142 SMITH : ON THE GENERIC NAME OF ALLIED SPECIES. 



Herrmannsen' 1 erroneously considers Vibcx of Oken the same as 

 Potamides of Brongniart, described for a Paris Basin fossil, 

 P. lamarckii. I have referred to Oken's work 7 and find a short 

 generic description on p. 258, and on p. 260, the species referred to 

 it is thus quoted : " 1 Art. V. fluviatile, Buccinum." This is 

 followed by a short specific description, and then comes a final 

 sentence : " Hieher Strombus palustris, Vibex, ater, Murex moluc- 

 canus." It will thus be seen that the V. fluviatile must stand as 

 the type of Oken's genus. As the word Buccinum follows, it may 

 be presumed that he referred to the Buccinum fluviatile of Gmelin, s 

 which was founded upon Rumph's Strombus fluviatilis, and his 

 description is applicable to that shell. This, as I have already 

 stated, appears to be one of the long, slender Melanicc like 

 M. hastula. At all events the West African shells referred to 

 Oken's genus Vibex by Woodward and others cannot be brought 

 under that genus, and as the name Claviger is preoccupied for 

 a long-recognised genus of Coleoptera," it becomes necessary to find 

 another name for the group. I therefore suggest that of Pachymclania. 

 The synonymy of the genus will stand as follows : — 



Pachymelania, Smith, 1893. 



= Claviger, Haldeman, Amer.J. Sci. Arts, 1842. vol. xlii., p. 216 

 (non Claviger of Preyssler, 1790, a genus of coleopterous 

 insects). 

 = Vibex, Gray, P.Z.S., 1 S 4 7 , p. 153 (non Vibex of Rafinesque, 

 1815, or of Oken, 1815, the latter including species of 

 Mela nia. Faun'us, and Terebralid). 

 — Vibex, Woodward's Man. Moll., 1851, p. 13L 

 = Vibex, H. and A. Adams's Gen. Moll., vol. i.. p. 303. 

 = Vibex, Chenu's Man. Conch., vol. i.. p. 292. 

 = Claviger, Brot's Monog. Melaniidcc Conch. Cab., ed. 2, p. 359. 

 = Claviger. Fischer's Man. Conch., p. 701. 

 The species included under this genus by Brot are : — 1, byroni, 

 Gray ( = byronensis emend.); 2, aurita, Muller ; 3, bal/eata, Philippi; 

 4, matoni, Gray ; 5, hippocastanum, Reeve ; 6, granulosa, Lamarck ; 

 7, fastigiella, Reeve. Of these species it is very doubtful if the 

 three last belong to the group, and balteata, in my opinion, is merely 

 a variety of aurita, which is a most variable species. 



6 Ind. Gen. Malac, vol. ii., p. 695. 



• Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte, Zoologische Theil, 1815-16. 



" Syst. Nat., p. 3504. 



s Claviger Preyssler Verzeichniss Bohmischer Insekten, 1790, p. 69. 



