80 IXTRODrCTION TO COXCHOLOGY. 



In the new and beautiful monograph recently published 

 by ]Mr. Eeeve^ of which that gentleman has permitted 

 me to avail myself^ the Yolutes are admirably figured, and 

 largely described. This genus^ termed by an accomplished 

 writer the nobles of Testacea, as Linnaeus, in liis admiration 

 of exotic palms, called them the princes of the vegetable 

 world, has ever been a favourite with shell collectors. Only 

 seven species were known to Lamarck ; but recent concho- 

 logists have ascertained at least sixty- one species, as also 

 that the geograpliical range of the Volutes is peculiarly 

 Australian. The extending of our empire, therefore, into 

 that distant portion of the globe, of which the fauna and 

 the flora are singularly distinct from those of other regions, 

 has given to the English collector a decided advantage in 

 obtaining species and varieties, of wliicli many are extremely 

 rare. 



Yolutes uniformly present an agreeable variety of form 

 and lively arrangement of colour ; and in reviewing the 

 various modifications of character, our attention is naturally 

 directed to the most permanent feature of the genus, — the 

 plaits of the columella. These are mostly four or five in 

 nimiber, strongly developed, and vrinding round the pillar 

 somewhat obliquely, yet occasionally reduced to two or tliree, 



