Cyprcra reticulata and Cypr&a histrio distinct. 487 



perceptible in the adult shell beneath the richly painted enamel which 

 is last deposited. In the reticulata, this peculiarity is seldom seen. 



On reviewing these distinctive characters, I think we may justly 

 conclude, that the Cypraa vitcllus and melanostoma, the C. lurida 

 and pulclra, the C. cervus and exanthema, the C. talpa and exusta, 

 or the C. mus and leucostoma, are not more distinct each from the 

 other, than are the two species we have been considering, and that 

 if authors will unite the latter, it. will be difficult to find justifiable 

 ground for separating the former. 



The fact that the two species in question occupy distinct geo- 

 graphical fields, seems to confirm the views which I have here 

 expressed. It will also account for the acquaintance of the earlier 

 European naturalists with the one species, and their silence in 

 regard to the other. The distant commerce of Europe, during the 

 seventeenth and earlier part of the eighteenth century, was mainly 

 with the East Indies, by way of the cape of Good Hope ; hence 

 the C. histrio of the Indian Ocean seems to have been well known 

 as early as 16S8, and perhaps 1GS1. On the other hand, the com- 

 merce and whale fisheries of the Pacific, which have now become 

 so extended and important, had then hardly an existence. Accord- 

 ingly, with a single exception, the C. reticulata appears to have 

 been almost unknown until the present century. Martyn, who almos 

 alone of the writers of the last century knew the shell, received it 

 as has been mentioned, from the Friendly Islands. The date of his 

 work (1784) renders it not an unlikely supposition, that his shell 

 was brought home by the third expedition of Cook, who touched 

 at those islands in 1777.* 



* The following quotation from the close of Chemnitz's description of his C 

 arlequina, not only seems to confirm thrse views, but shows how accurately lie 

 had discriminated between the shells in question. After stating that the C. arle- 

 (jnina inhabits the seas of the East Indies, particularly the shores of St. Maurice, 

 (Mauritius?) lie says — "Among the South Sea shells which have been communi- 

 cated to us from Cook's voyages, there is also an excellent harlequin. On the 

 upper surface I notice more regular rings, and a darker enclosure of the eyes and 

 spots. On the side margins are several blackish brown drops and spots, with which 

 even a great portion of the under s'urface is tigered, as it were. Each lip has only 

 22 teeth, which are of a blackish brown color. This shell was found on the shore 

 of Otaheite." 



