MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 301 



p. 229; Scala, p. 230; Eglisia (Gray, 1840, not of Desliayes whose Eglisias 

 are stated to = Mathilda Semper, while his Pyrgiscus are true Eglisia;), 

 p. 230; Chilocyclus (Bronn), p. 230; Scoliostoma Bronn, p. 230; Constantia 

 (A. Ad.), p. 230; Compsopleura and Sva/ina, p. 230. 

 = Scala De Boury, Monographie des Scalidae, Ft. I., Paris, 1886. 



Insertce sedis. 

 Scoliostoma Braun, Leonli. & Bronn, Jahrb., p. 291, 1838, Jide Herrmannsen. 

 Constantia A. Adams, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., VI. p. 120, 1800 ( C. elegans 



Adams, /. c). 

 Eglisia Gray, Syn. Brit. Mus., 1840: H. & A. Ad., Gen. Rec. Moll., I. p. 354. 

 Pyrgiscus Desliayes, An. s. Vert. Bassin de Paris, II., 2me e'd., p. 330, 1 not of Phi- 



lippi, Wiegm. Arch., I. p. 50, 1840. 

 Cochleana Minister, Beitr. zur Petr., IV. p. 104, 1841 (C. carinata Braun, I. c, pi. x. 



fig. 27). Syn. Chilocyclus Bronn, Lethea, c. i. 75, 1851. 

 Crossea A. Adams, Ann. Mag. Nat Hist., XV. p. 323, 1865 ( C. miranda Ad., /. c). 

 Funis Seeley, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., VII. p. 285, 1861 {F. elongatus Seeley, 



I. c, pi. xi. fig. 7). Cretaceous. 

 Holopella McCoy, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, VII. p. 47, 1851. Brit. Pal. Foss., II. p. 303, 



1855. (Type Turritella gregaria, Sil. Syst., pi. iii. fig. 1.) 

 Hoplopteron Fischer, Journ. de Conchyl., XXIV. p. 232, 1876. (H. Terquemi F., 



p. 234, pi. ix. figs. 1-8.) 



The determination of the proper name to be adopted for this well known 

 genus is beset with difficulties for the conscientious systematise It is one of 

 the few cases where a faithful adherence to the rules recommended by the 

 British Association would result in several very annoying changes in the names 

 of well known and accepted genera. 



The precious "ladder shell," " wentle-trap," or "scalata" was known to 

 early English, Dutch, and Italian naturalists chiefly as le scalata, a name 

 attributed to the Italians. It is the Turbo scalaris of Linne, and the Sca- 

 laria pretiosa of authors. The common Mediterranean form (S. clathrus) was, 

 from its abundance, small size, and inferior beauty, known as le fausse sca- 

 lata, or false wentle-trap. Early authors even considered them as varieties 

 of one kind of shell, and as late as 1817 discussed gravely whether the precious 

 sort really came from the Indies, as the Dutch dealers and naturalists had 

 always claimed. 



Among the authors who antedated binominal nomenclature, Browne named a 

 West Indian species Turbona, in his Natural History of Jamaica, and Klein 

 called the group Scala, or staircase shell, from the vernacular scalata. Some 

 conchological authors, disregarding the usual limitations of nomenclature, have 

 imposed some of Klein's names on modern genera, and this among them. 



Linne included the wentle-trap among his species of Turbo. The first 

 binominal author to distinguish the group by name was Hvass, a noted con- 

 chologist residing in Paris, from whose manuscripts (by the aid of E. M. 

 Da Costa, an English writer on shells) an anonymous catalogue was compiled 

 for George Humphrey, an auctioneer of London, who was intrusted with the 



