FAMILY 12. CONVOLUTA. 265 
incrassato, involuto, nunc levi, nunc denticulato, rarissimé tenui, 
acuto. 
Bruguiére became entitled to the credit of being the founder of this 
genus, but he did little more than honour the Ovule with a separate 
generic name ; for as Linneus regarded them as a section of the genus 
Bulla, so were they left by his successor in the same ill-chosen situa- 
tion. Lamarck soon detected their affinity with the Cypree ; and when 
the soft parts of these mollusks had been properly examined by De Blain- 
ville, the indefatigable naturalists who collected them, MM. Quoy and 
Gaimard, ventured to assert that ‘‘ la considération de l’animal de l’Ovule 
exige presque la réunion de ce genre avec celui des Porcelaines.”” This 
opinion, however, was never acted upon; the Ovule constitute a good 
and very natural genus, and a full exposition of it has been ably given 
by Sowerby in the first Part of his ‘Species Conchyliorum.’ 
De Montford, in his prolific notions of generic division, has distri- 
buted the Ovulz into no less than four genera, separating the three fol- 
lowing from those which he reserves under the normal title ; the Ovula 
verrucosa, with the new appellation of Calpurnus ; the Ovula volva, with 
that of Radius; and the Ovula gibbosa, with that of Ultimus* ; another 
genus, too, has been proposed by Dr. Leach under the name of Simnia. 
The shell of Ovula may be described as being of an oval, or oblong- 
oval form, with the extremities either emarginated, or canaliculated to a 
greater or less extent ; the spire, which is very short, is entirely con- 
cealed within the axis of the whorls; the aperture is longitudinal, and 
often wider in the middle than at each end; the columella is destitute of 
teeth, and the outer lip is thickened and rolled inwards, being sometimes 
smooth, and sometimes denticulated ; in one or two instances, however, 
the lip is thin and sharp. 
* De Montford seems to have fairly exhausted his encyclopedia of nomenclature by the 
time he brought his multigeneric notions to a conclusion. His genus Ultimus was so called 
because it happened to be the /ast in the book. 
