454 Miscellaneous. 



in the monograph before us, fully elucidated the animal as well as 

 the shell of the species he describes ; and, carrying still further the 

 system of classification inaugurated by the Norwegian naturalist, he 

 presents us with a history of one hundred and forty-one species, dis- 

 tributed in twenty-eight genera — certainly an extraordinary advance 

 upon the forty species and five genera which represented the state of 

 our knowledge of this order at the time of the publication of * The 

 Natural History of the British Entomostraca.' 



The work before us shows evidence of the greatest care in prepa- 

 ration and in execution. The descriptions of both shells and animals 

 (the latter given in a large number of instances) are systematically 

 and well drawn up, while the beauty of the plates leaves nothing to 

 desire. They represent the carapace of each species in its various 

 positions, and fully illustrate the anatomy of the genera. Both zoo- 

 logists and geologists may thank the Linnean Society for the pub- 

 lication of this extensive and important monograph. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

 On the Habits of the Volutes. By Dr. R. 0. Cunningham. 



Valparaiso, Oct. 9, 1868. 



My deak Sir, — In the April number of the * Annals and Ma- 

 gazine of Natural History,' which I received not long since, I 

 find at p. 310 a note by you on the habits of Volutes, in which 

 you remark that they are rarely collected with their animals, 

 except when they are accidentally thrown ashore after a storm, 

 and that this is owing to their sand-burrowing propensities. 

 This I have found to be the case as regards the species of the 

 genus inhabiting the Strait of Magellan. During the first season 

 I spent in that region, I only succeeded in procuring two live 

 specimens of Yoluta magellanica, till the occurrence of a violent 

 easterly gale caused numbers to be thrown on the beach in the 

 neighbourhood of the Chilian settlement at Punta Arena. That 

 they only existed in comparatively shallow water I considered 

 sufficiently proved by the fact that I never succeeded in dredging 

 any, though they were evidently far from rare, judging from the 

 numbers of dead shells to be picked up in most localities in the 

 eastern part of the Strait. I obtained a second species of Volute, 

 of which there are no specimens in the collection of Magellanic 

 shells in the Museum at Santiago, at low water at Cape Posses- 

 sion in January 1867. I found it burrowing in considerable 

 numbers in the fine sand of the beach ; and a few occurred upon 

 clusters of live Mytili attached to stones, and, I believe, were 

 feeding on them after the fashion of our Purpura hpiUus, though 

 I could not be certain of the fact. The body of the animal in 



