PROSOBRANCHIATA. 173 
depresso-convexis: apertura oblongo-ovali, antice effusd ; labro ad marginem tenui, acuto, 
iatis incrassato ; labio angustissimo, crasso ; columella leviter arcuatd, pluries plicatd, plicd 
penultima majori. 
Shell ovately fusiform, ribbed, transversely furrowed, deeply notched, and bent 
backwards at the base; spire elevated, obtuse, with a small conical pullus ; whorls 
six or seven, exclusive of the embryonic shell, convex, flattened at the sides, and 
separated by a deep suture. Ribs numerous, thick, rounded, slightly waved, and pro- 
longed to the base ; transverse furrows shallow, irregular, becoming faint, frequently 
almost obsolete, over the middle of the whorl. Aperture of an oblong-oval shape, wide 
in front, narrowing behind ; outer lip simple, sharp-edged, and thickened within ; inner 
lip very narrow, thick; columella slightly curved and furnished with ten or twelve 
folds, of which the front one is very oblique and moderately prominent, and the last 
but one larger and more transverse; the others rise almost to the suture, becoming 
feebler and more transverse as they ascend the columella. The ridge or crest on the 
columella, found in all the deeply notched species, is half concealed by the thick inner 
lip, but bulges out beyond the contour of the whorl. 
The specimen of V’. magorum figured by Brocchi was imperfect, and his description 
is short and unsatisfactory ; it is, therefore, difficult to decide whether the shells 
described by Mr. Sowerby have been correctly referred by him to the Subapennine 
species. Judging, however, from Brocchi’s figure and description, the V7. magorum 
appears to be a more regularly convex shell, attenuated more equally at the extremi- 
ties, and to have a more conical spire than the English shells. It is stated, also, to be 
smooth ; but much reliance cannot be placed on this character, for Brocchi describes 
the shell as convertita in ispato, and the transverse furrows may have become 
obliterated in that process. The ribs are more numerous, and are slender and straight ; 
the columellar folds also are more oblique, and the three front ones are nearly equal. 
The aperture appears to have been but slightly notched in front, inasmuch as the 
uninterrupted contour of the body whorl does not present the ridge caused by the 
retroflexion of the base, which always accompanies a deep notch. ‘These distinctions, 
I think, show that the English shells, although closely allied to, are yet distinct from, 
Brocchi’s species, or at all events that they cannot be safely considered as belonging 
to it. 
The shells (figs. 2 a, 6) referred by Mr. Sowerby to /. harpula (Lamk.), are only 
young shells of the present species, and are distinguished from the French species as 
well by the transverse striation as by the shorter and more obtuse spire, the more 
distant, thicker, and rounded ribs, the thinner outer lip, and the greater obliquity 
of the columellar folds. 
Dr. Beyrich (/oc. cit.) has described a Volute from Westeregela (Voluta decora) 
which resembles the present species so closely that it is difficult to separate the two. 
The chief differences appear to be that the transverse striation is perceptible on the 
