PLATE CLVIII. 



It has been presumed before that this shell was a native of our 

 coasts : that Borlase had met with it; and that the Area tortuosa * of 

 Pennant, (which he says inhabits Cornwall, and has been found near 

 Weymouth,) was no other than the Area Noae of Linnaeus. But 

 this still remained a matter of much uncertainty among Conchologists, 

 and with ourselves, till we received the specimen from the lady above- 

 mentioned, which proves beyond dispute that it is a British shell, 

 and perfectly similar to those of the same species found in the Medi- 

 terranean sea. This being a young shell, is not of course covered 

 with the rude brown epidermis, as in the old or full grown Mediter- 

 ranean shell, figured with it, in order to elucidate the species with 

 more precision. Since the publication of the Plate we have also had 

 the satisfaction of receiving another specimen of the shell nearly 

 thrice the size of the small one figured, in a parcel of shells coK 

 lected on Slapton sands, Devonshire, last summer. 



At the same time that Miss Poccck discovered this small specimen 

 of Area Noae, several worn valves of an Area, confessedly of a dif- 

 ferent kind, occurred likewise. Both the internal and external view 

 of these are represented in the lower part of the plate, fig. 3, together 

 with that of the perfect specimen of a foreign shell, fig. 4, which 

 may prove hereafter to be of the same species. The mutilated valves 

 we have little hesitation in believing it to be precisely those of the 

 shell figured by Lister, t. 367. n. 207. B alarms Btllonij tenuiter 

 striata i though from their imperfect condition it might be improper 

 to offer any positive opinion concerning them. At a future period 

 We may be enabled, by receiving better specimens, to ascertain this 

 point, and as it may then appear, our conjectures were not unfounded, 



* No. 57, Penn. Brit. Zoo!. 



