On Voluta noniaii, V. pipcritii, ^.'\■^•. Q.j 



XI. — yotes on Voluta norrisii, V. piporita, V. soj)liia, and 

 Description of a new Species. \\y Edgar A. ISmitii. 



[Plate v.] 

 (Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



Voluta norrisii. Gray (iiec auctorum). 



Voluta norrissii (sic), Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 414 (1838). 

 Vuluta piperita, Sowerby, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1844, p. 1.50; Thes. Conch. 



vol. i. p. li»<t, pi. 11. fiiT. H2 (1844) ; Keeve, (jonch. Icou, vol. vi. 



pi. vii. lijrs. Ida, \(')b (is49). 

 Scapha piperita, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 185o, p. 50; List Moll. Brit. 



Mu3. part i. Volutida^ p. 10 (l8o5). 

 Voluta {iScapha} piperita, Angas, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 51. 

 Voluta ( J'lspertiliu) piperita, Tryon, Man. Conch, vol. iv. p. 87, 



pi. xxvi. fig. 60; Crosse, J. de Conch, 1871, vol. xix. p. 280. 



Ihih. Woodlark Island (Angas) ; New Georcria, Solomon 

 Islands {J. Brazier J fide Crosse) ; Hubiana, Solomon Archi- 

 pelago {Petterd). 



The original description by Gray of Voluta norrisii appears 

 to have been overlooked by or inaccessible to nearly every 

 writer upon the genus; even Gray himself apparently forgot 

 that he had described a species under that name, for in 1855 

 he quoted it as of Sowerby. Sowerby did indeed describe a 

 Voluta norrisii in 18-14, which is the shell that has been 

 always known under that name. It is, however, quite 

 distinct from Gray's norrisii^ which, moreover, is the same as 

 r. piperita of Sowerby. The following is Gray's descri[)- 

 tion : — " Voluta norrissii [sic !]. — Greyish white, very minutely 

 black dotted, witii broad, black, wavy, irregular longitudinal 

 streaks, with three bands with paler dots and streaks ; 

 nucleus blunt, upper part slightly crenated ; last whorl sub- 

 angular ; mouth bright orange, with a white edge to the 

 outer lip. 



^''Inhah. ? Cabinet, Mr. Norris. 



" Very like Voluta nervosa [''ic!], but the shell is minutely 

 black dotted, the longitudinal streaks are broader, and the 

 three dark bands are rather more towards the front of the 

 shell ; the hinder one occupies the whole of the spine [sic!, 

 should be 'spire'] and hinder slope of the last whorl." 



On comparing tliis description with the figures of V. piperita 

 given by Sowerby and Keeve, it will at once be seen to agree 

 perfectly with them — indeed, it must have been based upon 

 the same shell from Mr. Norris's collection which was 



