Notes on South African MoUusca. 117 



When describing Marinula pepita in 1832, King mentioned that 

 he had submitted his entire American collection to Sowerby, who 

 had already obtained several of the species from other members of 

 King's expedition. 



Now in the same year Lowe described Melampns patidus from a 

 shell received from Soiuerby, and gave its measurements as j^X^^ 

 unc, tohich are identical loith those given by King for pepita. 



Errors of locality were frequent in those early days, and the 

 translation of America into Australia would be a mere nothing, due 

 to some one's misreading four letters of the name. 



There is no proof that Pfeitfer was acquainted with originals of 

 patula, and the fact of his connecting it with xanthostoma is easily 

 accounted for by the locality. 



Lowe's name of patula would take precedence of either pepita or 

 xanthostoma, but, while the circumstantial evidence is strongly in 

 favour of its application to the former rather than to the latter 

 species, it may be advisable to retain the names which admit of 

 no doubt, and to regard patula as a lost species pending the 

 rediscovery of the missing type. 



M. xanthostoma was founded by the brothers Adams on a set of 

 well-preserved Queensland shells in the Cuming collection, while 

 C solida was described a year later by Swain son, from beach-rolled 

 examples collected by Milligan on Flinders Island off the north 

 coast of Tasmania. 



The Type set of xanthostoma and good Co-types of solida are in 

 the British Museum. 



M. cymhaeformis was first mentioned in print by H. & A. Adams 

 AS having been described by Eecluz in the Mag. de Zool. I can find 

 no mention of any such name in Recluz' writings, and the species 

 appears to have been first characterized by Pfeiffer from a shell in 

 his own collection, purporting to come from the Island of Ticao, 

 Philippines. 



What this was I cannot say, but the Adams' set is probably still 

 to be seen in the British Museum. It consists of 6 shells on one 

 tablet labelled both "patula" and '' cymheformis" and assigned to 

 Ticao (in Cuming's writing) and also to Tanhay, I. of Negros, in 

 the Philippine Islands. These are simply beach-rolled examples of 

 typical Australian xajithostoma, and failing further proof to the 

 contrary, the Philippine locality may, I think, be accepted as 

 erroneous. 



Pfeiffer also mentions a var. j3, gracilior, from Australia. This 

 appears to be represented on another British Museum tablet, which 



