NATICA. 255 



G. 5538. The type specimen, figured ; from Muddy Creek. 



Purchased. 



G. 9404. Specimen having; small pieces of stone, bryozoa, and 

 slu'U frajiiiients adhering; from Muddy Creek. Purchased. 



G. 9650. Cast of an umbilicated species, probably referable to 

 X tatei ; from the Tertiary of Fowler's Bay District. 



S. T. L. Brown Coll. 



Family NATICIDiE. 



Genus NATICA, Scopoli. 

 [Introd. Hist. Nat. 1777, p. 392.] 



Shell ovate, globose, shining, solid, usually smooth ; umbilicate ; 

 spire short ; aperture entire ; columellar border thick, subvertical ; 

 outer margin thin, not sinuous. 



Kecent authors,' following Lamarck,- regard N. canrena, Linnaeus, 

 as the type of Natica. Adanson^ was the first to propose Natica, 

 but liis work must be ignored, according to the usual rules of 

 nomenclature adopted in this country. In introducing Adanson's 

 name into binomial nomenclature Scopoli cited four examples, 

 neither of which includes N. canrena, which cannot, therefore, be 

 cited as the type. Another reason (if one were requii-ed) for not 

 accepting that species is, that N. canrena of Linuteus was a 

 compound of several species, as is generally recognized. Of the 

 four examples cited by Scopoli two are of Natica, as at present 

 restricted, and it will prevent confusion if one of them be selected 

 as the type. 



The chief divisions of the IS'aticid^, being based for the most 

 part on the character of the operculum, can only be doubtfully 

 recognized in fossil forms. 



Ti/pe. — Nerita vitellus, Linnaeus. 



' Cosstnann, Ann. Soc. Roy. Make. Belg. t. xxiii. 1888, p. 159; and Dall, 

 Trans. Wagner Free Inst. Sci. IMiUad. vol. iii. pt. 2, 1892, p. 362. 

 » Mi'm. Soc. Hist. Nat. Paris, 1799, p. 77. 

 * Hist. Nat. Senegal (Coquillages), 1757, p. 172. 



