322 Mr. E. A. Smith on African MoUusca. 



rendered it Desmoulea^ a spelling copied by A. Adams*, 

 Tryon t, Fischer t, Ciienu §, Kobelt li, &c. At the time, 

 however, he gave no reason for the change, and quoted 

 ^^DesmouUa'''' as if it were the original spelling. 



Agassiz ^, Piiilippi **, Hermannsen tt, and Dunker \\ 

 have all hinted that this genus might have some association 

 •with the name of M. Charles Desmoulins, and Woodward, 

 in his '^lanual' (p. 112), has rendered it "Z^esmow/i'nsea," 

 regarding it as a synonym of Nassa. However, as Gray is 

 somcAvhat notorious for the number of " nonsense names " 

 which he has given to numerous genera, I have no doubt 

 this is a name of that description ; moreover, in the same 

 pttper he created the genus Drillia^ which apparently is also 

 meaningless. 



Philippi, that most excellent and accurate writer, employs 

 in his ' Handbuch der Conchyliologie,' p. 150, the original 

 term '^DemouUa ; " and this rendering 1 certainly think should 

 be maintained, a view also held by Crosse §§. 



The species which have been referred to this genus are all 

 figured in Tryon's ' Manual of Conchology,' vol. iv. pi. xviii. 

 figs. 361-370, and in Reeve's ' Conchologia Iconica,' vol. viii., 

 Nassa, pi. xxix. figs. 190-196. They are as follows : — 



1. Demoulm pulchra. Gray. 



Demoulia ahbreviata, A. Ad. 



Demoulia ponderusa, Reeve, = crrt.«(T, A. Ad, 



Ilah. Sierra Leone and Senegal. 



The locality " Japan " for crassa has never been confirmed. 



2. Demoulia retusa (Lamk.). 

 Hah. Cape Colony. 



3. Demoulia Tryonij Crosse. 



JIah. ? 



This species is united by Tryon with D. retusa, but it 

 appears to me very difiercnt in many respects. 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 18.31, p. 113 ; Gen. Moll. vol. i. p. llo. 

 t Man. :Mo11. vol. iv. p. 155. t ^I'^"- <-'i'»i'h. p. 0-U. 



§ Man. do Conch, p. UU. 

 II Illustr. Conchvlienbuch. p. 40. 



i Noniencl. Zuol Mull. p. -J',*. ** Ilaudbucli Conch, p. LX). 



tt Indici:* jrcn. Malaccz. pvini. vol. i. p. o77. 

 J I Index Moll. mar. jap. p. 'M. 

 §§ Jouin. de Conch. IfS?!, p. 71. 



1 



