BUCCINUM— Plate VI. 



Species 43. (Mus. Cuming.) 



BucciNUM pusio. Buc. testa fusiformi, anfractihis sm- 

 periie leciter concavis, leevigatis aid tramversim tenuis- 

 dme striatis ; columella, excavatd, aperturd ohlongd, 

 superm callodtatibus munitd, fauce sulcata ; purpiireo- 

 plimibsd, t/gniis fusco-articidatis undique ciugulatd, 

 aperturcB fauce candescente, aurantio nmrgine tinctd. 



The young Bdccinum. Shell fusifoiin, whorls slightly 

 concave round the upper part, smooth or transversely 

 very finely striated; coliunella excavated, aperture 

 oblong, furnished at the upper part with callosities, 

 interior grooved; purple-lead colour, encircled through- 

 out with brown-articulated fillets, interior of the aper- 

 ture blueish, stained at the edge with orange. 



Linn.j:ds, Syst. Nat. (12th edit.) p. 1223. 

 Buceinwm plumatum, GmeHn. 

 Fusus piiaio Euc. Meth. 

 Fumts articulatm, Lamarck. 



Had. Honduras, California. 



A great deal of confusion has arisen in regard to the 

 origin of this species, in consequence of Linnseus ha\Tng 

 formed his description from an immatm'c specimen (sug- 

 gestive of the name pusio) " about the size of a hazel-nut," 

 in which the dark spots range in longitudinal streaks, as 

 he describes, instead of forming articulated bands ; and in 

 quoting the Mediterranean Sea as its habitat, thereby 

 leading Philippi and others to confound it with the £. macu- 

 losnm, of that locality. 



Thanks, however, to Mr. Hanley for calling my atten- 

 tion to it, we possess in the collection of oiu' Linn<ean 

 Society the very shell from which the diagnose in the 

 ' Systema Naturae ' was drawn up, with the number refer- 

 ring to it on the shell, in Linnseus's handwriting ; and the 

 specimen agrees precisely with the immature representa- 

 tions of the species in Gualter and Bonanni to which he 

 refers. 



So many of Linnsus' shells were in yoimg or bad con- 

 dition, that his descriptions scarcely apply to the same of 

 mature age and in finer state of preservation. 



