176 C O N C H O L O G r. 



The feventh family is the Semiporcel- 

 lanas, or Shells greatly refembling the Cy* 

 preas or Cowries In then* appearance. Their 

 aperture, however, is not fo narrow, but 

 more open, neither are the hps toothed or 

 dentated ; which are the differential cha- 

 racters I eftablifli between the two families, 



I have already obferved, that Grew, 

 Rumphius, Seba, Argenville,Gualtieri, and 

 others, have ranked them as Cowries. Lit* 

 ter calls them Concha Veneris apertura 

 non dentata. Linnseus makes a genus of 

 them he calls Bulla; in which he alfo In- 

 cludes my preceding family of Nuces or 

 Dippers. Davila, refining on Argenville, 

 divides the Cowries Into two genera, of 

 toothed and not toothed ; which latter is 

 this kind; and Meufchen, in like manner, 

 makes them a dlvifion of Cowries by the 

 name of Semiporcellanae. 



The 



