196 SPECIES OF THE SYSTEMA. 
fully described in that work was either the poraria of modern 
writers, or one of its very closely allied congeners. The par- 
tially marked specimen in the Linnean cabinet (where no 
allied species is present) evidences that our later conchologists 
have rightly divined the species intended, since that shell 
(Reeve, Conch. Icon. Cypr. f. 99) alone of the marginated 
Cowries contained in the collection corresponds in features 
with the definition. In the proposed new edition of the 
‘Systema’ “ Subtus violacea” was designed to have been 
inserted among the essential characters. 
Cyprxa peviculus. 
In the revised copy of the ‘Systema’ figures 309 to 311 of 
Martini’s first volume (Conch. Cab. t. 29) have been referred to 
as illustrative, and “ List. Conch. 706, f. 56” has been substi- 
tuted for the previous more circuitous method of citing that 
publication. From the long array of synonyms one is led to 
expect a conflicting jumble of closely allied, yet essentially dis- 
tinct, species ; the list, however, when purified by a strict adhe- 
rence to the demands of the descriptive definition, leaves only 
two Cowries to claim the Linnean appellation. These cor- 
respond, severally, to the two principal varieties that are indi- 
dicated in the terminal paragraphs of the description, the var. 
“ Huropea,” destitute of a dorsal groove (in which the un- 
spotted North British form, var. “ Anglica” must be included), 
and the var. “ Indica” (the Jamaica shell), which is both fur- 
nished with a dorsal furrow and dusky spots. Now the shell 
delineated by Rumphius, whose engraving has been copied by 
Petiver, and one of the three cited figures in Gualtier (pl. 14, f. 
P.), display, indeed, a dorsal groove, but are devoid of coloured 
markings ; hence, as these features must be combined together, 
or the former be wholly absent, it is clear that these references, 
usually ascribed to C. oryza (the latter in shape approaches 
more nearly to nivea, which is present in the Linnean collec- 
tion), must be removed from the synonymy. The others may 
be grouped as follows :— 
