M A R G I N E L L A . 



Plate I. 



Genus MAEGIXELLA, Lamarck. 



Tesia oblongo-ovata vel pyriformis, polita, ad basin emargi- 

 nata, spird brevi, interdum immersa, labro plerumque 

 varicoso-reflexo, aperturd subangu&td, columella pUcatd, 

 plicis sapissime quatuor. 



Shell oblong-ovate or pear-shaped, poUshed, emarginated 

 at the base, spire short, sometimes immersed, lip 

 generally varicosely reflected, apertm-e rather narrow, 

 columella plaited, plaits mostly four in number. 



The genus Margindla comprises a pretty numerous 

 group of small Volutes, partaking of the characters of the 

 Cowry. As in Vohtta, the shell is of an oblong-ovate or 

 pear shape, short in spire, with the columella plaited. 

 As in CyprcBa, the spire is sometimes wholly immersed, 

 and the aperture is extended linearly to the summit, while 

 the outer surface of the shell is highly polished from its 

 contact with the animal. It was shown by Adanson, to- 

 wards the close of the last century, in his 'Voyage en 

 Senegal,' that the shell of Marginella is enveloped by the 

 mantle of the animal ; and M. Deshayes, from observations 

 made on the shores of the Mediterranean, describes the 

 animal as having a thin, capacious disk, reflected over the 

 edge of the shell, with the mantle extending on eitiier side, 

 as in Cypraa, into a thin lobe, closing together chiefly 

 beliind, so as to leave a narrow opening on the back. In- 

 teresting observations were also made on Marginella by 

 ilr. Arthur Adams during the voyage of the 'Samarang.' 

 M. diadochus was taken alive by him in the Straits of 

 Sunda, and M. undidata on the enst coast of Africa. His 

 exquisite drawings of the living forms of those species, 

 published in the Zoology of that Voyage, exhibit the 

 mantle partially retracted. It will be seen by these figui-es 

 that the animal is characterized by a striking variety of 

 marking and brilliancy of colouring, contrasting conspicu- 

 ously in both instances with the shell. 



The small cylindrical species of Marginella, of which 

 the .shell is mostly of a delicate, transparent substance, 

 and in some specimens quite of glassy tenuity, were sepa- 

 rated by Lamarck to form his genus Folvaria. ]\L'. Hinds 

 proposed to separate them as a subgenus, with the title 

 rokarina, using the trinomial form of nomenclature. 



Out of a hundred and fifty species, described in tiie 

 following monograph, the habitats are known of about 

 two-thirds. The great centre of habitation of the genus 

 is West Africa, about Senegal and Cape Blanco. Here dwell 

 five-and-twenty species, comprising all the more striking 



and beautiful of the genus. M. glabella, Cumingiana, 

 GooduUi, Ihabata, aurantia, bifasciata, Adansoni, pseudo- 

 faba,splendens,Belckeri, nodata, Cleryi, mnsica, and others, 

 extremely diverse in painting and general typical character, 

 are all natives of this locality. East .\frica contributes 

 eight species, among which are the beautiful M.pyrum and 

 mosaica. Four species, including the curiously cylindrical 

 M. dactylm, are recorded from the Cape of Good Hope. 

 No more than about a dozen species have been collected 

 in the great area of the eastern archipelago, China, Bor- 

 neo, and Malacca, — only a single small species, M. Philip- 

 pinarum, being found by Mr. Cuming during his extended 

 researches amongst the Philippine Islands. Tasmania 

 furnishes two small species of a special type, M.fo/riiicaria 

 and muscaria; and Australia eight species, among which 

 are two of singular delicacy and beauty, M. pidchella and 

 Be Bitrghife. Two small species have been lately de- 

 scribed from the islands of the Pacific. 



JMearly as many species of Marginella inhabit the West- 

 ern as the Eastern Hemisphere, but they are mostly of 

 small size, though the colossal M. bullata is among the 

 number. This remarkable species, together with the 

 equally characteristic -If. Largillieri, fidminata, angitstata, 

 and three others are inhabitants of Brazil. As many as 

 twenty-six are recorded from the West Indies, mostly 

 small, but several of them are beautifully marked; the 

 most noticeable is perhaps .1/. murafn, from the circum- 

 stance of its being of the same specific type as the M. 

 pidchella and De Bitrghice of Australia. Two very beau- 

 tiful species, M. labiata and citicta, are from Jlexico, and 

 the latter of these is of the same specific type as the M. 

 marginata of Senegal. Two species are recorded from 

 Venezuela, one being the very characteristic M. porcel- 

 lana, and three from Honduras. On the western coast of 

 America a solitary species, M. curia, occurs at Peru, three 

 at Panama, including the typical M. prunum and sapo- 

 tella, and two at California. 



The northern limit of the genus in the Eastern Hemi- 

 sphere is represented by one very small species in the Me- 

 diterranean, the Linnsan M. miliaria, the range of which 

 extends to Madeira. jMontagu, as far back as 1803, de- 

 scribed two species, M. pallida and catenala, as British 

 species, and they were included by subsequent writers, to 

 the time of Forbes and Hanley, in the British fauna; they 

 were shown however by these authors to be natives of 

 the West Indies. 



January, 1S65. 



