122 PRICES PAID FOR SHELLS chap, iv 



Conus cedo nulli went for £18 and £22, G. omaicus for £12, 

 G. malaccanus for 10 guineas (this and one of the cedo nulli 

 being the actual specimens figured in Eeeve's Conehologia 

 Iconica), G. cervus for £19 and G. gloria maris for £42. On 

 9 th May 1866a Cypraea Broderi^ii was sold at Stevens' auction- 

 rooms for £13, and at the Dennison sale a Cypraea princeps 

 fetched £40, and G. guttata £42. The Volutidae, although not 

 quite touching these prices, have yet done fairly well. Mr. 

 Dennison's Voluta fusiformis sold for £6 : 15s., V. papillaris for 

 £5, V. cymhiola for £5 : 15s., V. reticulata for 8 guineas, and two 

 specimens of the rarest of all Volutas, V. /estiva, for £14 and 

 £16, both being figured in the Gonchologia. At the same 

 sale, two unique specimens of Oniscia Dennisoni fetched £17 

 and £18 respectively, and, at the Vernede sale, Ancillaria 

 Verntdei was bought for £6 : 10s., and Voluta piperata for 

 £7 :10s. 



A unique specimen of a recent Pleurotoinaria {quoyana 

 F. and B.) was purchased by Miss de Burgh in 1873 for 25 

 guineas, and another species of the same genus {adansoniana 

 Or. and F.), of extraordinary size and beauty, is now offered for 

 sale for about £100. 



Bivalves have never fetched quite such high prices as uni- 

 valves, but some of the favourite and showy genera have gone 

 near to rival them. On 22nd June 1869, at Stevens', Pecten 

 Solaris fetched £4 : 5s., P. Reevii £4 : 8s., and Gardita varia 

 5 guineas. Mr. Dennison's specimens of Pecten suinodosus sold 

 for £7, of Gorlula Soioerhyi for £10, of Pholadomya Candida 

 for £8 and £13, w^hile at the Vernede sale a Ghama damicornis 

 fetched £7. 



