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SPECIES OF THE SYSTEMA. 
Voluta trvinga. 
The manuscript of Linneus conveys no additional informa- 
tion respecting this doubtful species, on which the contents of 
his cabinet throw little, if any, light. The description in Gmelin’s 
edition of the ‘Systema’ seems mainly derived from that pub- 
lished by our author ; the “ triplicata,” however, has been some- 
what modified. Lamarck, Deshayes, Philippi, and, indeed, 
almost all conchological writers, acknowledge it to be a Colum- 
bella; the two former recognised it in the shell termed 
C. tringa in the ‘Animaux sans Vertébres;’ the last-named 
naturalist believed he had detected it in an elongated variety of 
the C. rustica, which is apparently the shell figured by Gualtier ; 
the “labium exterius minime marginatum” and the “spira 
prominente detrita” scarcely harmonise, however, with this 
hypothesis.. That shell is present in the collection, where, with 
the exception of the Columbella cornicula, which, although it 
reminds one of the “spira prominente detrita,”’ is utterly dis- 
similar to the illustrative references, it alone corresponds with 
the described features. The cited figure of Adanson (Col. 
concinna? of Sowerby), a short-spired plaitless shell, hence 
decidedly not a corréct representation of the species under 
consideration, was not quoted in the earlier edition, and conse- 
quently possesses but little authority, since it clearly does not 
represent the same object which was delineated by Gualtier. 
The representation in the ‘ Einleitung’ (Schroter’s ideal of 
the Linnean species), though generally referred to Columbella 
tringa, seems designed for C. nitidula, a shell present in the 
Linnean collection, which reminds one, in most respects, of 
both figures and description. The stated locality does not, 
indeed, suit it, yet, throughout the ‘ Vermes Testacea,’ the West 
Indian species are ascribed to the Mediterranean. Perhaps, 
however, upon the whole, Philippi’s opinion is best borne out 
by any arguments to be derived from the ‘ Systema,’ and even 
in some degree is favoured by the collection. Yet to positively 
pronounce upon the identity of tringa with rustica would savour 
somewhat of presumption. 
