CONID^E. 5 



The family, as herein restricted, includes the single genus 

 Conns. There are no extinct genera. 



GOSAVJA, Stoliczka, described as a member of the family, I 

 have described and figured as a subgenus of Yoluta (Man., iv, 

 78). 



CONORBIS, Swainson, which may be subgenerically distinct, is 

 described and figured in Struct, and Syst. Conch., ii, 188, t. 58, 

 f. 50. It is an eocene group. 



About 100 fossil species of Conus have been described; they 

 are extensively distributed, and first appear in cretaceous strata. 



Dr. WeinkaufF has added to his Systematic Catalogue of 

 Conus, extensive tables of geographical distribution in which 

 the species found in each province are separately enumerated 

 and named. The distribution may be summarized as follows : 



1. European Province, 1 sp. 2. West African, 27 sp. 3. p]ast 

 American Province, 32 sp. 4. So. African, 22 sp. 5. West 

 American (Xorth, Central and South), 30 sp. 6. East African 

 (including Madagascar and Red Sea), 81 sp. 7. South Asiatic, 70 

 sp. 8. East Asiatic (including Philippines and Sandwich Is.), 

 133 sp. 9. Australian, 113 sp. 



There arc, of course, many duplications in these numbers ; 

 the distribution of many single forms throughout the sixth to 

 ninth provinces, as above defined, indicates that for Conus (and 

 for man}- other carnivorous gastropods) these divisions have no 

 real existence. 



Mr. Arthur Adams, in his delightful natural history notes, in 

 the Narrative of the Voyage of the Samarang, writes : 



u The animal of Conus aulicus has the proboscis beautifully 

 varied with red and white, and there is a square and very minute 

 operculum on the dorsal surface of the hinder part of the foot. 

 Its bite produces a venomed wound, accompanied by acute 

 pain, and making a small, deep, triangular mark, which is suc- 

 ceeded by a watery vesicle. At the little island of Meyo, one of 

 the Moluccas, near Ternate, Sir Edward Belcher was bitten by 

 one of these Cones, which suddenly exserted its proboscis as he 

 took it out of the water with his hand, and he compared the 

 sensation he experienced to that produced by the burning of 

 phosphorus under the skin. The instrument which inflicted the 

 wound, in this instance, I conceive, must have been the tongue, 



