78 Miscellaneous. 



very extensive collection of the freshwater shells of India — the first, 

 I believe, that was sent to this country. 



It is figured by Mr. W.Wood, however, in the Supplement to the 

 Catalogue of Shells as Turbo Francesi, from specimens sent home 

 by Mrs. Ince : so the confusion began early. Mr. Wood (unfortu- 

 nately for science, as it added some confusion to the nomenclature) 

 submitted the proofs of the text of the Supplement to Dr. Goodall, 

 who, I suppose, not knowing that the names which I had supplied 

 to Mr. Wood had already been published (though it is mentioned 

 in the preface that they are the names used in the British Museum 

 collection), altered some of the names capriciously. I suppose that 

 the Provost of Eton College did not think it right that a shell should 

 be named after a woman ; for in the same way he altered Nerita 

 SmithicB and Turbo Monger ce to Nerita Smithii and Turbo Maugeri. 

 No one who knew him can believe that it arose from want of polite- 

 ness or gallantry ; but conchologists are more liberal now. I may 

 observe that all the shells figured from specimens in the Supplement 

 were engraved (not etched) on the copper at once, from the shells 

 selected by myself either from the British Museum, Mrs. Mawe's, 

 or Mrs. Gray's collection ; and I furnished him with the names of 

 the species (which in some cases were so oddly changed) and also 

 with the Lamarckian Index to the Catalogue and Supplement. 



On the Species of the Genera Latiaxis, Faunus, and Melanatria. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



The examination of the original specimens on which the various 

 species of the genus have been described and figured has convinced 

 me that there are not more than two distinct species of Latiaxis. 

 The first, L. Mairce, is nearly smooth, with a flat depressed spire 

 and a very large umbilicus : L. purpurata, Chenu (MoUusques Mar.), 

 appears to be only a variety of this species, which is sometimes of a 

 purplish colour. The second, L. pagoda, Johnson, has a conical 

 spire and a small umbilicus. L. pagoda, Johnson, L. textilis, A. & 

 H. Adams, L. Eugenia, Beraud, and L. nodosa, A. Adams, are all 

 varieties of the same species, varying in the presence or absence of a 

 keel on the last whorl, and in the whorls being slightly nodose. 

 They are all inhabitants of the China Seas. 



The specimens of the genus Faunus, Montfort, in Mr. Cuming's 

 cabinet show most conclusively that the shells named Faunus ater, 

 F. terebralis, Lamk., F. Cantori, Benson, and F. pagoda. Reeves, 

 are only slight varieties of a single species. F. Cantori is a dwarf 

 decollated state, and F. pagoda is described and figured from an acci- 

 dentally distorted adult shell. They are found in Ceylon, Penang, 

 the Philippines, and New Caledonia. 



The species of Melanatria, Bowdich, have been also needlessly 

 divided. There can be no doubt that M. fiuminea and M. plicata. 

 Reeve, are only varieties of M. spinosa, Lamk. It is found in 

 Madagascar and West Africa. They vary not only in the strength 



