333 Mr. Jeffreys on Stilifer, 



gin of the aperture united all round he cast into the new genus 

 Cingulus, after Dr. Fleming. 



This last-named author, in his * History of British Animals/ 

 included in his genus Velutina Turton's little shell ; but, after 

 showing in what respects it differed from Phasianella, not less 

 than from Velutina, he suggested that it should probably con- 

 stitute a new genus, Stylina. That name, however, had been 

 pre-engaged twelve years before by Lamarck for a tropical genus 

 of stony Polypes, which he had originally called Fascicularia. 

 Its adoption for the Mollusk also would therefore be contrary 

 to usage, especially as the somewhat similar name of Stilifer 

 has now been recognized for upwards of thirty years. I am 

 aware that this is one of the questions of scientific nomen- 

 clature upon which naturalists are by no means agreed. I do 

 not pretend to set myself up as a judge, and my opinion may 

 be taken for what it is worth. 



Mr. Broderip was the first to ascertain the zoological nature 

 of the mollusk now under consideration ; and in the ' Proceed- 

 ings of the Zoological Society' for 1832 will be found an admir- 

 able communication from him on the subject. He there pro- 

 posed the generic name which it still bears — Stilifer. A more 

 detailed description of the animal, from his pen, will be presently 

 given in full. The following remarks were appended to Brode- 

 rip's memoir in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society •' — 

 " Mr. Owen, to whom Mr. Broderip acknowledges himself in- 

 debted for the anatomical particulars which he had recorded of 

 Stilifer Astericola, subsequently exhibited a series of drawings 

 of the animal and of its various parts, so far as he had been able 

 to observe them in the specimens brought home by Mr. Cuming. 

 He also read a more detailed description of the peculiarities re- 

 marked by him during the dissection of the individuals which had 

 been entrusted to him for that purpose." Some such drawings 

 are engraved in Sowerby's * Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells,' 

 and the different parts are designated by letters ; but, unfortu- 

 nately, no reference was published, except to one of the figures. 



Soon afterwards appeared one of the Numbers of Sowerby's 

 'Genera' containing an account of the present genus, with the 

 signature of Mr. Broderip. The first syllable of the name Stilifer 

 is here spelt (probably owing to a printer's error) with a y ; in 

 the * Proceedings of the Zoological Society ' it is correctly spelt 

 with an i. The generic characters of the animal are as follows : — 



Pallium crassum, carnosum, cyathiforme, testse anfractus ultimos 

 obtegens. Proboscis longissima, retractilis. Tentacula rotunda, 

 crassa, subacuminata, ad basin proboscidis posita. Oculi ad basin 

 tentaculorum sessiles, minimi. Branchise stirps solitaria. Animal 

 marinum. Asterise cutem penetrans. 



