MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS 

 COLUMBELLA. 



BY 



G. B. SOWERBY, F.L.S. &c. 



Testa ovata, vel oblonga, nonnunquam turrita, epidermide 

 induta ; spira plerumque breviuscula, nonnunquam elongate 

 turrita ; labio externo plus minusve incrassato, mediana parte 

 intus tumido vel subtumido, denticulato ; labio interno 

 plerumque antice denticulato vel ruguloso. 



When I first published some account of this Genus in my 

 work on the Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells^ compara- 

 tively very few species were known and their general forms 

 more closely approximated to each other ; since that period 

 the researches of Naturalists, particularly those of Mr. 

 Cuming have brought to light numerous additions and new 

 forms have contributed to the increase of the Catalogue, now 

 swelled to upwards of an hundred species. The Columbellee 

 are for the most part small Shells of an ovate or oblong, 

 sometimes of a turreted form covered when in their natural 

 state with an epidermis, which is commonly thin, but in some 

 species is thick and coarse. The spire is usually short, 

 though sometimes of considerable length, and generally 

 acuminated. The outer lip is generally more or less thickened 

 externally, and its middle part within is usually more or less 

 tumid and denticulated, and the inner lip has for the most 

 part various denticles and rugulosities within anteriorly. 

 Aperture in general rather elongated, though sometimes much 

 shorter than the spire and it is usually more or less arched 

 opposite to the swelling within the outer lip, so as to give 

 the aperture a sinuous form. Lamarck^s Col. bizonalis, Col. 

 hebrcea, and Col. unifascialis, belong to the genus Mitra ; and 

 we think his Col. jnendicaria and Col. zonalis should be referred 

 to the family of the Purpuridee. These two last, along with 



