PYRAMIDELLID #&. 395 
the present animal is locally common, it is malacologically an 
almost unrecorded rarity. We may all blush for our careless- 
ness in not noticing this interesting and unique species, which, 
though within the range of many naturalists, would still, pro- 
bably, have remained in obscurity, if it had not been déterré 
and forced into notice by our invaluable friend. 
PYRAMIDELLID Z. 
This family forms an important section in the ranks of 
British malacology, and consists of numerous species, which, 
though many of them have long been known to our older 
conchologists, have scarcely, until very lately, attracted the 
attention of continental naturalists, in consequence of their 
minuteness and the difficulty of obtamimg the animal for 
examination. The only recent authors who have paid much 
attention to the malacology of these imteresting objects are 
the Rev. T. Lowe, M. Loven, M. Philippi, and Professor 
Forbes. 
The British genera comprise upwards of forty species, more 
than half of the animals of which I have examined, and think 
that detailed accounts of them will be acceptable to mala- 
cologists. These species have run the gauntlet through nearly 
the entire range of the British Gasteropodous molluscan 
genera in search of a resting-place. It is needless to allude 
to these ancient and variable depositaries; I will therefore 
only mention the recent genera in which they appear to have 
obtained that sort of improved provisional settlement, which is 
usually the precursor, from the many malacological facts that 
have been obtained, of a definitive natural position. 
The more recent receptacles of these interesting objects 
are, Mr. Lowe’s genus Parthenia, Dr. Fleming’s Odostomia, 
M. Philippi’s Chemnitzia, and the Truncatella and Eulima of 
Risso, with M. Lovén’s Turbinella and Aclis. The admirable 
manner in which Mr. Lowe has described the animal and 
illustrated his Parthenia, causes much regret that we must 
