MITRA. 123 



Considerable confusion exists in the nomenclature of this 

 species, the names of cornicula and cornea having been rather 

 loosely applied by different authors ; several of the most recent 

 investigators have applied to it that of M. lutescens, Lam., as a 

 name about which there can be no doubt ; I agree with Deshayes, 

 Reeve, etc., that the name given by Linnaeus may be fitly 

 preserved for the species. The form and coloration are certainly 

 variable — how variable, I am not able to determine. The follow- 

 ing, among the large number of s^monyms, have been variously 

 separated as varieties and even as species, and there are not 

 wanting connecting forms even with so typically diverse a species 

 as M. ebenits. 



M. Philippiana^ Forbes (fig. 77;, is considered b}^ Weinkauff'a 

 minor form of var. cornea^ Lam. ; it appears to me to be merely 

 a young shell without distinctive features. A curious color- 

 variety is that figured by Kiener as M. cornicularis^ Lam. (fig. 

 76). if. graja^ Reeve (fig. 78), is from the Isle of Paros, 

 Grecian Archipelago ; it is a solid shell and appears to connect 

 with 



Var. LACTEA, Lam. (fig. 79). 



Shell smooth, solid, white ; with fine revolving striai. 



Var. PLUMBEA, Reeve (fig. 80). 



intra plumhea^ Lam., is usually referred to the smooth form 

 of M. ebenus, Linn., but the shell which Reeve and Sowerb}^ have 

 figured for plumhea is ver}^ different from that species. It is 

 nearer to cornicula^ but may be entirely distinct, being a larger, 

 stouter shell, chestnut-brown covered partially by a plum-like 

 bloom. 



Var. ScHRCETERi, Desh. (fig. 81). 



Pale horny brown, marked with white next the sutures and 

 with an irregular central light band. Length, 1-1-25 inches. 



Weinkauff"* thinks this a West Indian species, but no such 

 form is known there. Desha^^es considers it fully equivalent to 

 M. cornicula7-is, Lam. It connects closely with M. Kieneri, Sowb. 



*Biill. Mai. Ital., ill, 75. 



