CRUCIBULUM. 



Species 10. (Fig. a to k, Mu3. Cuming.) 

 Crucibulum spinosum. Cruc. testa, orbiculari, interdum 

 subquadrato-ovatd, nunc solidimculd, convexd, nunc 

 depressd, teimiculd, radiaiim liratd et irregulariter 

 corrugato-striatd, tuhulo-spinosd, interdum autem raro 

 hiermi, vertice subcentrali, oblique cotdorlo ; Uvidd 

 aut lulesceuti'-albd, purpurea contorto-radiatd, intus 

 intense cinered vel albd; appendice interna cyathi- 

 formi, ampld, lateraliter compressd, crystallino-albd, 

 medio interdum cinered. 

 The spined Crdcibulum. Shell orbicular, sometimes 

 squarely ovate, rather solid and convex, or depressed 

 and rather thin, radiately ridged and irregularly 

 wrinkle-striated, generally tube-spined, sometimes, 

 but rarely, without spines, vertex nearly central, ob- 

 liquely twisted ; livid or yellowish-white, twistedly 

 rayed with purple, interior dark-ash or white; in- 

 ternal appendage cup-shaped, large, laterally com- 

 pressed, crystalline-white, sometimes ash-stained in 

 the middle. 

 Cahjptraa spinosa, Sowerby, Genera of Shells, f. 6. 

 Calyptraa Peziza, Gray. 

 Varieties. Calyptraa hispida and maculata, Bro- 



derip. 

 Calyptrtea tuhifira. Lesson. 

 Calyptraa cuierea, mihi. 

 Hub. Seas of Central America. 



It has been necessary to devote an entire Plate to the 

 illustration of this extremely variable species. To com- 

 mence with the most highly spiued state of it, the speci- 

 men represented at Fig. 10 a affords a remarkable instance. 

 In this depressed shell, extracted by Mr. Cuming from a 

 hollow in a large stone hauled up from deep water, the 

 spines are comparatively distant and promiscuous, stand- 

 ing up in the form of erect or slightly recurved tubes. In 

 Fig. 10 d the shell is more convex or limpet-like, and the 

 spines are in direct radiating ridges. In Fig. 10 A the 

 shell is equally convex with the spines, more numerous 

 and tubular, surrounded with a plentiful sproutuig of 

 smaller scale-like spines; while in Fig. lOy (C cinerea, 

 mihi, in Conch. Syst.), the spines and scales are be- 

 coming obsolete, and the shell is rounder, and of a more 

 irregularly depressed growth. In the shells represented 

 at Fig. lOf and 10/ the scale-ribs disappear, and the 

 wrinkled striae become conspicuous, the twisted-rayed 

 purple colouring, of which there are indications in the 

 preceding varieties, are here more revealed to view, and 

 there are traces of a few scattered spines, more or less ob- 

 solete. The specimen Fig. 10 A and 10 i presents a link 

 with the Broderipian C. hispida and maculata, at Fig. 10 c 

 and 10 5. The former is characterized by its delicate 

 structure, in which the spines are also delicate, like fine 

 prickles, and the latter is peculiar in having the purple 

 rays more or less broken up into spots. 



February, 1859. 



