HARPA. 



Plate II. 



Species 3. (Fig. a and b, Mus. Cuming.) 



Habpa gracilis. Harp, testd elongato-oblongd, gracili, 

 semipellucidd, albidd, roseo eximie variegatd ; cost is 

 angustis, muticis, lavigatis, lineis roseis capillaribus 

 transversis ornatd. 

 The slender Harp. Shell elongately oblong, slender, 

 semitransparent, whitish, delicately variegated with 

 light rose-colour ; ribs narrow, spineless, smooth, 

 ornamented with transverse hair-like rose lines. 

 Broderip and Sowerby, Zool. Journ., vol. iv. p. 373. 



Harpu minor, var., Gray. 

 Hab. Island of Annaa or Chain Island, Pacific Ocean 

 (found on the reefs) ; Cuming. 

 The shell here represented, from the collection of Mr. 

 Cuming, is, I think, unquestionably distinct from the 

 well-known Harpu minor, both in form and extreme de- 

 licacy of colouring, and I have little doubt but that this 

 opinion will be one day confirmed by the discovery of 

 numerous specimens. 



Species 4. (Fig. a, b & c, Mus. Cuming ; Fig. d, Mus. 

 Stainforth.) 



Harpa articularis. Harp, testd ovato-inftatd, tenui, 

 cinereo-griscd ; costis sapissimi angustis, subdistan/i- 

 bus, angulato-compressis, nigro alboque articulatim 

 maculatis, interstitiis lineis cinereis arcuatis sub- 

 obscure pictis ; columelld omninb cinereo -fused. 



The articulated Harp. Shell ovately inflated, thin, 

 ashy grey ; ribs generally narrow and rather distant, 

 angularly compressed, articulately spotted with 

 black and white, interstices obscurely painted with 

 curved ashy lines ; columella entirely ashy brown. 



Lamarck, Anim. sansvert.,vol. vii.p.256; Encyclopedic 

 Methodique, pi. 404. fig. 3. 

 Harpa ventricosa, var. Deshayes, Enc. Meth. 



Hab. Island of Ticao, Philippines (found in sandy mud 

 in deep water) ; Cuming. 



Variety /3. (Fig. 4, a and d.) 



Testa pallidior, costis lineis nigris transversis, perpau- 



cioribus, fasciculatis. 

 Shell paler, ribs with the dark transverse lines much 



fewer in number and separated into groups. 

 Hab. Feejee Islands, Pacific Ocean. 



There are scarcely two species of the genus, when 

 compared by their typical varieties, that present a more 

 absolute contrast than the Harpa articularis and cunot- 

 dalis ; the one remarkable for the vivid articulated co- 

 louring of the ribs, the other for its simplicity of colour- 

 ing and absence of articulation. Yet, at the same time, 

 there are no two species which more confusedly run into 

 each other ; they are indeed so intimately connected 

 by the examples PI. II. fig. 4 d, and PI. III. fig. 7 e, that 

 I have only been enabled to establish a line of separa- 

 tion by the consideration of the following characters; 

 namely, that in this species the ribs are always sharply 

 angular, and the intercostal festoons very obscurely 

 painted. 



The ribs of the Harpa articularis are for the most 

 part very narrow, the shell having been formerly distin- 

 guished as "the narrow-ribbed Harp;" Mr. Cuming has, 

 however, recently collected specimens at the Philippine 

 Islands, in which the ribs are of much greater width 

 and brilliancy, and I have much pleasure in publishing a 

 drawing, Fig. 4 b, of one of the specimens alluded to. 



The variety /3, which graduates in many respects into 

 the Harpa conoidalis, is characterized by the dark lines 

 on the ribs not being articulated, but isolated in groups. 



Species 5. (Mus. Stainforth.) 



Harpa imperialis. Harp, testd orbiculari-turgidd, mul- 

 ticostatd, costis triginta aut pluribus, rotundatis, sub- 

 irregularibus, confertis, superne elato-mucronatis, in- 

 terstitiis profundi stria/is; albidd, zonis numerosis 

 interruptis, curneolis, cingulatd; spirdlatissimi cana- 

 liculatd, apice rosaceo ; columelld et aperturm fauce 

 vivide aurantiis. 



The imperial or many-ribbed Harp. Shell orbicu- 

 larly swollen, many-ribbed, ribs thirty or more in 

 number, rounded, somewhat irregular, close-set, 

 elevately pointed at the top, interstices deeply 

 striated ; whitish, encircled with a number of inter- 

 rupted flesh-coloured zones ; spire very widely ca- 

 naliculated, apex rose-tinted; columella and interior 

 of the shell stained with bright orange. 



Chemnitz, Conch. Cab., vol. x. p. lS4.pl. L52.fig. 145-J. 



Lamarck, Anim. sans vert., vol. vii. p. 254. 

 Harpa multicostata, Sowerby. 

 Harpa ventricosa, var., Deshayes, Kiener. 



October 1843. 



