87 



The shell on which this genus is founded, though long known to Concho- 

 logists, is one of very rare occurrence ; having been described nearly a cen- 

 tury since by Meuschen and Gronovius as a Helix, in the unlimited sense 

 of that period, its peculiarities were strikingly noticed by the latter in his 

 interrogatory as to its being a river shell*; Favanne mentions it in his 

 Catalogue as a rare Buccinum called ' La Chiure de Puce/ and Chemnitz 

 published a formal description of it in the ' Conchylien Cabinet ; under the 

 name of Buccinum stercus-pulicum. It does not appear to have been 

 known to Linnaeus, the last edition of whose ' Systema Naturae ' appeared 

 simultaneously with the ' Zoophylacium ' of Gronovius, but Dillwyn re- 

 ferred the shell under consideration, in his Linnsean arrangement of shells, 

 to the genus Bulla ; Bruguiere consigned it to Bulbmts, and Lamarck, De 

 Ferussac, and others, adopted the same view, by retaining it with those 

 species subsequently distinguished as Achatina, on account of the trun- 

 cature of their columella, and especially with that portion more recently 

 separated under the titles of Polyphemus and Glandina. The name Buccinum 

 used by the original describers of this shell, was thus more in conformity 

 with its present assumed marine character, than that employed by modern 

 writers, the situation to which it has been assigned in the system as the 

 representative of a pulmoniferous air-breathing mollusk, being incompatible 

 with the nature anticipated, on the authority of Dr. Beck, of its being an 

 inhabitant of the seas of Spain and Portugal, f 



Prom the light horny semi-porcellanous character of this shell, the 

 absence of epidermis, and the wide-spread stain which exhibits its contact 

 with the soft parts, I think it may be anticipated that the animal is of large 

 size, and able to envelope its shell to some considerable extent, it is pro- 

 bably an inhabitant of deep water, and an examination of the microscopic 

 structure of the shell would no doubt detect a larger proportion of membra- 

 nous tissue and less of calcareous matter than is usually secreted by 

 mollusks of the order to which it is referred. It only remains to urge 

 upon the attention of all who may have an opportunity of dredging the 

 shores of those countries upon which it is supposed to exist, that in the 

 event of their researches after Priamus meeting with success, they should 

 be careful to preserve the animal. 



Figure. 



Priamus stercus-pulicum. PL 8. Pig. 39. Shell, showing its curved 

 and truncated columella, and slightly sinuated lip, as in Strutkiolaria. 



* " An fluviatilis ? " Gronovius, Zoophylacium, Ease. 3. No. 146 

 f Deshayes, Auim. sans vert. vol. viii. p. 299, note. 



