106 



Figure. 



Pyrula Maw,e. PL 9. Fig. 41. Shell showing the aperture, smooth 

 columella, and large umbilicus. — From Mr. Cuming's collection. 



Genus 6. FICULA, Sivainson. 



Animal ; disk oblong, attenuated posteriorly, rounded in front, 

 with a small acuminated lode on each side ; no operculum ; 

 head small, with two small cylindrical tentacles more or less 

 exserted, beneath the base of which on each side is situated 

 the eye, sessile ; proboscis capable of considerable elongation; 

 mantle much dilated, expanded throughout the canal, and 

 over all that portion of the body ivhorl of the shell forming 

 the boundary of the aperture. 



Shell ; pyriform or fig-shaped, light and ventricose, roidely chan- 

 nelled at the base, channel more or less prolonged, spire very 

 short ; columella slight ,• aperture large, extending posteriorly 

 to the spire ; lip thin, entire. 



The Lamarckian species of Pyrula, commonly known as 'The Figs', were 

 first distinguished as a genus by Mr. Swainson in lus 'Malacology', a 

 volume of 'Lardner's Cyclopedia'; founded, not, however, upon any 

 knowledge of the soft parts, but upon the uniform generic affinity of the 

 shells. Only four species are known, and three have been lately taken 

 alive; the F. Jicoides and gracilis, were collected by M. Rousseau, a 

 zealous naturalist attached to the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, during a voyage 

 to Madagascar and the Seychelle Islands, and the F. lavigala, was dredged 

 together with the F. jicoides, by Mr. Arthur Adams, Assistant Surgeon, R.N., 

 in the Sooloo Seas, during the recent voyage of H.M.S., Samarang. 



The generic importance which Mr. Swainson attached to this limited 

 group has been fully confirmed by the peculiarities of the animal ; although 

 a canaliculated shell, and so closely allied in form to the Pgrida car i en, 

 spirata and others, as to induce Martini to distinguish them as subdivisions 

 of a particular group, under the titles of the Light Figs, ' Fici tenues ', 

 and the Heavy Figs, ' Fici ponderosi ', the animal approaches rather to 

 Dolium and Harpa, having an elongated proboscis and the same rounded 

 lobate structure of the front portion of the disc. 



The F. gracilis and Jicoides have been beautifully illustrated by M. 

 Rousseau under the new generic name Ficus, in M. Chenu's handsome 

 publication, 'Illustrations Conchyliologiques ' ; the tentacles are partially 



