II 



niiroREUs. 05 



Coast of AfVk-a. as it. has umnistakal)U' allinitics with tlie pre- 

 C< , ceding species. 



M. RAMOSUS, Linn. I'l. 1, lios. 1. 2. 



The present species appears to l)e distingnished from its yvX'a- 

 tives in being more pyriforni in shape, tlie spire shorter, the lips 

 tinged with rose-pink. It is the largest species of the genus, 

 reaching sometimes a foot in length and acquiring considerable 

 solidity. Younger specimens, varying from o to 4 inches, are 

 considerably more frondose. 



Red Sea, Ind. 0., Hong-Kong, Isle of Bourbon, 



iV. Zealand, Austr., Cen. Pacific 0. 



Very commonly used as chimney-place and mantle-shelf orna- 

 ments throughout the civilized world. 



M. ELONGATUS, Lam. PI. 20, tig. 183. 



Longer and narrower than I\[. ramosas, with the same tooth on 

 the edge of the outer lip ; but usually darker or brownish, the 

 interior of the aperture not red, but white or chocolate-brown. 



Length, 4-,5 inches. 



Ind. 0., China. 



M. Siiienf<is, Reeve, is a s3'nonym, but the elongatus figured in 

 Reeve = brerifrans., Lam., a species readily distinguished by the 

 absence of the tooth on the outer lip. 



M. BREViFRONS, Lam. PI. 18, figs. 171-173; pi. 19, figs. 175, 

 179, 180. 

 I unite under this, the oldest name, a dozen species inhabiting 

 both the East and West Indies, and which possess typically 

 certain distinctions. The union of most of these forms has 

 already been surmised by several good conchologists, and the 

 very large series of specimens at mj' command enables me to 

 suppl}' connecting forms which remove all doubt upon the 

 subject. If these shells were all inhabitants of one faunal 

 province exclusively, this union would seem more natural, yet 

 there is no means of distinguishing a typical M. calcitrajM 

 (fig. 175) from the Indian Ocean, from a West Indian specimen. 

 Usually, the shell is frondosely spinous, rather thin, with two 

 ribs between the varices ; covered with close revolving striae, of 

 which those that develop the variceal spines are larger and more 



