136 Zoological Society. 



nigra ad apicem late cinereo-fasciatd ; rostra may no, pedibusque 

 pallidis. 



Long. tot. 12 unc. ; alee, G| ; caudce, 4^; rostri, 11 lin. 



Hab. } 



This species is remarkable for its stout bill, which is of a very 

 pale grayish colour, tinted with yellow on the upper surface at the 

 base. The vinaceous patch at the angle of the wing is but of small 

 extent ; the primaries, secondaries, and some of the greater wing- 

 coverts are narrowly margined externally with bright yellow, and 

 the vent and some of the under tail- coverts, as well as the greater 

 portion of the feathers covering the thighs, are of the same colour ; 

 the larger under tail -coverts are of a reddish brown colour, and the 

 feet are yellow. 



March 28. — William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The following descriptions of new Shells, from the collection of 

 Captain Sir Edward Belcher, R.N., C.B., &c., by Richard Brinsley 

 Hinds, Esq., Surgeon R.N., were read : — 



The great accession of species to the genus Pleurotoma, as left by 

 Lamarck, renders it necessary that our views respecting it should 

 receive some modification. A very prominent circumstance is, that 

 the frequent repetition of previously trivial characters has elevated 

 them to a situation of importance, and they are thus liable to become 

 the distinctive grounds of new and characteristic groups. I com- 

 menced my examination with the species collected in the Sulphur, 

 being about 120 in number; and subsequently I have had the 

 opportunity of extending my researches among the extensive col- 

 lection assembled together by Mr. Lovell Reeve, from the cabinets 

 of various conchologists, but particularly from that of Mr. Hugh 

 Cuming, the whole amounting in all probability to more than three 

 hundred species. It is not my intention to attempt anything like a 

 monograph of the group, but as it was necessary to make an exten- 

 sive revision of the subject, to place the species in my hands in their 

 proper position, I trust I shall be doing a service by recording the 

 views which became developed in the prosecution of the work. I 

 shall, however, confine my remarks to those genera, the mention of 

 which is necessary to the elucidation of my species. 



Pleurotoma, Lamarck. 

 A beautiful genus, presenting the typical characters of the group 

 in their intensity, and capable of being satisfactorily defined. It 

 consists of shells which are elongated and fusiform, having the spire 

 and canal most frequently nearly equal in length ; the sinus a slit, 

 usually anterior to the most prominent part of the whorl, with a 

 sharp margin ; aperture oval ; canal straight, and almost constantly 

 lengthened ; outer lip thin, smooth within, usually crenulated on 

 the margin, from the termination of the lesser keels ; inner lip rarely 

 produced ; sculpture generally transverse. The species are rarely 

 found beyond the tropics, and do not abound in individuals, being 

 found few in number : they are nearly equally abundant in the Ame- 



