UNIVALVES VOLUTA. 63 



of beauty or rarity, the genus Conus, or the genus Voluta, 

 should have the precedence. However, the latter would 

 seem to have a right to claim it, for its species are princi- 

 pally admired for the elegance and variety of their forms; 

 whereas the shape of the Cones is so similar as to afford 

 little or no material variation. 



The one hundred and forty-four species of the Volutes 

 are more or less celebrated for their beauty or scarcity, 

 and are easily distinguished from all other Univalves, by 

 having several teeth or plaits on the columella or pillar- 

 lip. In some species, the number of teeth or plaits a- 

 mounts but to four or five ; whereas in others, as in the 

 Olives, it is unlimited, and frequently extends to as many 

 as thirty or forty. However, they are then much smaller 

 and less articulate than when fewer. Among the innu- 

 merable varieties of the Olives, the Camp or Panama 

 (Voluta Castrensis) is most conspicuous, not only from its 

 peculiarity and beauty of marking, but also from the con- 

 siderable magnitude it attains. The rest of the species of 

 the Olives, as the Voluta Oliva, Ispidula, and Utriculus, 

 (kc. &c. are not remarkable for their scarcity, but for 

 their astonishing beauty and variety, which is indeed in- 

 finite. Some of the rarer sorts of Volutes are the pro- 

 duce of the land, and are curiously distinguished from 

 the rest of their genus by having their mouths shaped ex- 

 actly like a human ear; such are the Voluta Auris-Midse 

 (Midas' Ear), Auris-Sileni, Judas, Malchi, &c. &c. The 

 three first are found in the fens, marshy-woods, and swamps 

 of India, and are numbered among the varieties of the ge- 

 nus. The last is an inhabitant of New Oledonia, and is 

 also rare. The fusi-form or spindle-shaped Volutes con- 

 stitute a large portion of the genus, and arc usually known 



