VOLUTA. 569 



dirty white colour, with the base striated, and the upper part 

 marked with transverse rows of small slightly elevated tu- 

 bercles ; the spire is considerably produced, and its summit 

 somewhat cylindrical. Young shells are yellowish, and have 

 irregular transverse rows of dark spots. Humphreys says 

 that reversed shells of this species are held sacred in China, 

 where great prices are given for them, and they are kept in 

 Pagodas by the priests, who on certain occasions administer 

 medicines to the sick from them, and also use them to anoint 

 the Emperor at his coronation. Meuschen, who has placed 

 nearly all the Volutes with the Murices, considered the full 

 grown shell to be distinct from M. Pyrum, and has called it 

 M. sacrificator. These shells are often curiously ornamented 

 with carvings, which D'Avila says is done by the Indians, 

 who use them for drinking cups. 



gravis. 164. Shell ovate, somewhat beaked, stri- 

 ated, and slightly reticulated; spire rather 

 depressed, and the whirls convex ; pillar 

 three-plaited. 



Voluta gravis. Solander's 3ISS. Portland Cat. p. 103. 



lot 2274. 

 Martini, iii. t. 95. f. 917. Enc. Method, t. 390. f. 1. 



Variety. With the whirls reversed. 



Chemnitz, ix. part 1. p. 37. t. 104. f. 884 and 885. 



Inhabits the Straits of Malacca. Humphreys. 



Shell five inches long, and three inches broad, and resembles 

 V. Pyrum, but is more globose and broader in proportion 

 to its length ; the spire also is much less produced, and the 

 striae are fainter and slightly reticulated. The reversed Va- 

 riety appears to be valued indiscriminately with that of V. 

 Pyrum, and Chemnitz has given a long account of the im- 

 portant purposes for which it is used iu China. 



globosa. 165. Shell sub-globular, emarginate, so- 

 lid, longitudinally plaited, and grooved and 

 striated transversely; spire nodulous; pillar 

 three-plaited. 



Voluta globosa. Chemnitz, xi. p. 22. t. 178. f. 1715 and 

 1716. 



Inhabits 



Shell an inch and a quarter long, and near an inch broad, thick, 



solid, ponderous, and of a dirty white without any coloured 



