229 



NOTES OX SOME TYPE-SPECIMENS IX THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



By Edgar A. Smith, F.Z.S., etc. 



Read \2th March, 1897. 



The British Museum has recently obtained from Mr. Sowerby the 

 types of fourteen species of shells which formerly were in the 

 collection of M. B. Thomas, of Brest. An examination of these, 

 and a comparison with the collection of the British Museum, show 

 that several of them had already been described, and were, in fact, 

 merely old species with new names. It is hoped that the following 

 notes will be useful in clearing up points which have probably 

 appeared doubtful to those who may have studied the species in 

 question. It is a very great advantage to have secured these types 

 for the national collection, where they will always remain available 

 to students and collectors. It is often quite impossible to estimate 

 the validity of a species without seeing the actual type. So many 

 incorrect identifications become disseminated, or the original descrip- 

 tions or figures are so inadequate, that an examination of the type 

 becomes necessary before we can properly estimate a species. Hence 

 the importance of obtaining for our great national collection as many 

 types as possible. 



1. Coxus Prevosti, Sowerby, 



Proc. Zool. Soc, 1881, p. 636, pi. Ivi, fig. 3. 



Hah. — New Caledonia. 



This very rare shell does not closely compare with any other known 

 species. Perhaps it ranges nearer to Conus convolutus and C. Neptumis 

 than to any other form. 



2. CoNUs Crosseanus, Bernardi. 



Journ. de Conch., 1861, p. 168, pi. vi, figs. 5, 6; Crosse, op. cit., 

 1878, p. 168, pi. iii, figs. 3, 3«; Bernardi, Monog. 

 Conus, p. 13, pi. i, figs. 2, 6. 



Hah. — New Caledonia. 



This species is allied to C, marmoreu^, but apparently distinct. The 

 figures in Sowerby's Thesaurus and Tryon's Manual appear to repre- 

 sent a variety of that common species, " of which the triangular spots 

 are more or less bluish and which is common at New Caledonia. That 

 variety possesses neither the second veined network, nor the transverse 

 rays of C. Crosseanus " (Crosse). 



3. Coxus FULVociNCTTis, Crosse. 



Journ. de Conch., 1872, p. 214, and 1873, p. 218, pi. xi, fig. 3. 

 ILib. — AYest Africa. 

 VOL. II. — JULY, 18D7. 16 



