— 
— 
FAMILY 10. PURPURIFERA. 235 
Pl. CCLXVIII. Fig. 5 and 6. 
BuccinuM serrAtuM, Dufresne. Kiener, Iconographie des Coquilles vi- 
vantes, pl. 9. f. 28. 
Nassa Northie? Gray. 
Pl. CCLXVIII. Fig. 7. 
BucciNuM MELANostoMA, Sowerby, Genera of Shells, No. 25. Wood, 
Index Testaceologicus, Supplement, pl. 4. f. 3. 
NASSA, Lamarck. 
Testa ovata, subturrita, in sinum profundum, aut canalem brevissimum, 
reflexum, desinens ; spira elata, apice acuto, anfractibus costis lon- 
gitudinalibus szpissimé plus minusve ornatis ; apertura orbiculari, 
superné angulata ; columella levi, interdum latissimé effusa, denti- 
culo, aut callositate, ad superiorem partem instructa ; labro externo 
dentato ; fauce leviter crenulata. Operculum parvum, corneum. 
The genus Nassa is one which Lamarck introduced in his multifarious 
distribution of the Linnzan Buccina, with the view of distinguishing a 
certain portion whose shells exhibit an interesting and well-defined pecu- 
larity of character. It has been subject, however, to much alteration at 
the hands of subsequent authors; the Nassz (a term, by the bye, used 
by Martini in reference to many shells that are not referable to the pre- 
sent genus,) run so completely into the Buccina, that Lamarck himself 
only latterly acknowledged them as a section of the normal group. Kiener 
follows the same view, but De Montford has instituted a still further 
subdivision in the formation of the genera Phos, Alectryon and Cyclops ; 
others too have been proposed by Gray*. 
* Mr. Gray has far exceeded the labours of his talented predecessor in this respect; he 
seems, indeed, to follow every genus that can have the slightest modification of character to 
support it; an arrangement well adapted for those whose collections are confined to the typical 
