the Boat and Melon Volutes. 275 



of Volutidae in the Museum Catalogue, but no mention is made 

 of Schubert and Wagner's Voluta reyia. It may be argued that 

 V. regia is described by those authors as being four-plaited, 

 whereas the species under consideration is three-plaited ; but 

 they have regarded, like some others, as a plait what is merely 

 a thickened margin of the columellar enamel. The shells of C. 

 regium are characterized by a peculiar bold mottling of white 

 blotches ; and in the young state the two species are even more 

 distinct. C. cethiopicum is of a more ventricose, constrictedly 

 convoluted form, the strise of growth being gathei-ed in by a 

 broader and more contorted development of the columella and 

 its plaits ; the banded painting consists of interrupted dark 

 blotches ; and the scales of the corona are more numerous. In 

 C. regium these peculiarities are replaced by others of good spe- 

 cific value — a shorter and less constricted columella, more distant 

 scales, a more obtusely square form, with the painting of white 

 blotches disposed longitudinally ; and the differences are plainly 

 discernible in a state modified only by age in the adults of the 

 two species. 



11. Cymhium (Mela) Broderipii, Gray, in Griffith's Cuvier's 

 Animal Kingdom, Moll. pi. 26; Conch. Icon. pi. 5. f. 3 a, 

 and pi. 6. f. 3 h, c, d. 



Hab. Philippine Islands ; Cuming. 



This well-known species is the largest of the genus. Mr. 

 Cuming possesses a specimen measuring 14 inches in length 

 and 30 inches in girth. In a young state the shell is profusely 

 reticulated and obliquely streaked with olive- or chestnut-bi'own 

 upon a yellowish ground : in a more advanced state the ground- 

 colour of the shell is of a deeper orange hue, and the olive-brown 

 assumes a banded form stretching into freckles ; soon the freckled 

 painting disappears, and the large adult specimens are simply 

 obscurely banded. 



12. Cymbium [Melo) ducale, Lamarck, Anim. sans Vert. vol. x. 

 p. 377 ; Conch. Icon. pis. 7-10. 



Voluta ducalis, Lamarck. 

 Melo umbilicatus, Broderip. 



Hab. Moreton Bay, Australia. 



Writers on Volutidce appear to have overlooked the fact that 

 this excellent species, of which there is a magnificent series of 

 specimens in the British Museum, is the Voluta ducalis of 

 Lamarck, well described in the 'Animaux sans Vert.' and figured 

 by Schubert and Wagner in their Supplement to the ' Con- 

 chylien Cabinet.' Some specimens are broadly oval, others 



