164 



scene! , and at this part with more of colour ; hut t!iey liave 

 no middle line; and in the larger specimen tlieir form is 

 much less re2;ular than in the smaller. From the line of 

 separation of the whnrls run a considerable ni!ml)er of broivn 

 lines, encircling the convexity of the whorls, and nnitinii; the 

 longitudinal lines of arrowy marks, but not actually breaking 

 in on their continuity. The comparative number of these 

 encircling lines, as well as their regularity, is much greater 

 in the larger specimen. 



A close inspection of these shells in comparison with a 

 small parcel of Naticce, of about the size of small peas, and 

 which without enquiry I had believed to be all of the more 

 common species, has iuipressed me with the belief that llie 

 N. intricata is not so rare as has been supposed ; for I found 

 several among them distinguished by the regular lines of 

 arrow shaped marks, and thereby easily separated from 

 others ot paler cast, and with only one lino of obscure linear 

 marks near the border of the whorl. On further examination 

 I find also on these prettily marked specimens that the spire 

 is less elevated, and possesses the general form already- 

 described as belonging to xV. intricata. But it is remarkable 

 that in the umbilicus and band all these specimens are alike, 

 and resemble iV. g/a?/c?7m : a circumstance which doeis not 

 excite in my mind any doubt of their being of dilFerent 

 species, and that those having lines of arrow shaped marks 

 are a young ktate of N. intricata ; for I believe that the 

 observation of Professor Forbes nsay be depended on: that 

 colour in the Naticae is distinctive of species, but at the same 

 time it tends to show thai in their younger condition they 

 resemble each other in that which subsequently constitutes 

 their most in)portant dilTrrence. In their youthful condition, 

 then, the marking of the body-whorl, and the depressed and 

 irregular form of the spire must be regarded as the chief 

 distinctions; to which in the adult state must be added the 

 situation and structure of the band and the umbilicus inter- 

 seeling it; but how far this shell is thus separated from the 

 foreign species of Naticae described by authors, I have not 

 tlje means of knowing. 



CYPRJ5A. COWRY. 

 MONEY COWRY. Cyprcea moueta, Turton's Lin., vol. 4, 



p. 3 12. 



I'his species is a common native of the Mediterranean, and 

 the few dead specimens which had been found on the Cornish 

 shores were judged to have been thrown where lh(!y where 

 they were discovered, by some accident. But in the month 

 of August 1844, a small specimen with the animal alive, was 

 taken in a trawl in Mount's bay ; and it is now preserved in 

 the collection of xMr. R. Q. Couch at Penzance, 



