5o8 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



able forjn and of varied colours. We have one 

 hundred and thirty-two species of cone, several 

 of which bear a high price, such as the c. cedo- 

 nulliy the c. omaicus, the c. obesus, the c. ara- 

 neosus, and a new species from the Chinese 

 seas, presented to the cabinet by M. Dussumier. 

 We have seventy-eight species of olive and 

 seventy-four of cypraea ; their colours are still 

 more varied than those of the cones. The 

 largests pecies is the c. cervus ; the rarest is 

 the cyprcea aurora from New Zealand. A small 

 species, found on the coast of Guinea, is used 

 as money by the inhabitants of that country. 

 There are five fossil species of cyprsea. The 

 genus terebellum contains only three species, 

 two of which are fossil ; that from the Indian 

 ocean is very remarkable. We have ten spe- 

 cies of ovula ; the o. birostris and the o. volva 

 are very rare : the pink variety of this last comes 

 from the Indian seas, and was given us by 

 M. Dussumier. 



2d. The family of the columellaria compre- 

 hends five genera, all very numerous. They are 

 generally small shells, the volutes alone are of 

 large dimensions ; at the bottom of the case there 

 are several more than a foot in length, such as 

 the v.neptuni, the v.cfmbium. We have ninety- 

 eight specimens of them belonging to forty-three 



