62 Mr. A. H. Cooke on Vulsella. 



rounded than spongiarum, with the want of scaly sculpture 

 that characterizes mytilina. This latter fact, however, is of 

 no account, as the type specimen is an old one (cf. trita 

 below), and the scales have probably been rubbed off. Tenison- 

 Woods {ut sup.) distinctly says it is " squamose and closely 

 striate." 



The Tasmanian and S. Australian form of spongiarum ; 

 Lamarck calls it ovata (see no. 18). 



4. Vulsella mytilina, Lamarck (An. sans Vert. ed. 2, 

 vol. vii. p. 268). 



Chemnitz, Concliylien-Cabinet, 1782, tab. ii. figs. 8, 9. 

 Vulsella mytilina, Reeve, Conch. Icon, tit step. pi. i. fig. 4. 



Hah. {Lam.), Red Sea {Ruppell), Suez [Issel, MacAn- 



dreio) . 



Why Reeve should have substituted his obscure Latin 

 description for Lamarck's decidedly clearer one I cannot 

 understand. His figure is from a wretchedly worn specimen, 

 which is in the British Museum. Lamarck's memorandum, 

 " grande coquille blanche, ayant des stries d'accroissement 

 transverses et concentriques," exactly describes the appear- 

 ance of this shell, which I regard as a well-marked variety of 

 lingulaia, distinguished from all other varieties by its greater 

 size, its comparative smoothness of surface, its slightly greater 

 rotundity, and its want of colouring. It is the Mya valsella 

 ??^^v^o?• of Chemnitz, " derkleinere Bartkneiper," " die kleinere 

 Kornzange" of the same author, who recognizes its close affinity 

 to lingulata by referring to Rumphius's description of it. Now 

 Rumphius only recognizes lingulata. 



5. Vulsella attenuata, Reeve (Conch. Icon, ut sup. pi. i. 



%. 5). 



Hal. Red Sea {Reeve), Suez {Issel, MacAndreio). 



Type in the Brit. Mus. 



An obvious link between lingulata and mytilina, having 

 the general shape, even to exaggeration, of the former, and the 

 absence of marked sculpturing of the latter. 



6. Vulsella lingulata, Lamarck (An. sans Vert. ed. 2, 

 vol. vii. p. 269). 



Lister, Hist. Conch, tab. 1055, fig. 10 (1685). He called 

 it Musculus KT€vtj)lr)s, the comb-shaped muscle, and, curiously 

 enough, regarded it as a freshwater shell, placing it upon the 

 same mantissa as such " cochlece et bivalvia aquce dulcis '^ as 

 Paludina contecta, Melania amarula (which he calls Bucci- 

 num acuJeatum), and a large Pirena. 



