CYMBIUM. 
Prate I. 
Genus CYMBIUM, Klein. 
Testa globoso-ovata vel oblonga, plus minus ampliter ven- 
tricosa, plerumque fulvescens, sepe castaneo fasciata, 
spird brevi, apice papillari, sepe immersd, interdum 
omnino occulta, anfractibus levibus, superné contractis, 
margine interdum squamis coronato, interdum itegro, 
producto, circa apicem canaliculatis ; columella con- 
stricta, validé plicatd, plicis duabus ad quatuor ; aper- 
turd perampld, labro simplici, supra spiram sepeé dila- 
tato-inflato. 
Shell globosely ovate or oblong, more or less largely ven- 
tricose, generally fulvous, often banded with chest- 
nut, spire short, papillary at the apex, often im- 
mersed, sometimes wholly concealed, whorls smooth, 
contracted at the upper part, margin sometimes coro- 
nated with scales, sometimes entire and produced, 
channelled round the apex; columella constricted, 
strongly plaited, plaits two to four; aperture very 
. large, lip simple, often dilately inflated above the 
spire. 
The Melon and Boat Volutes, as the large boldly con- 
voluted shells of this genus have been aptly called, were 
known to authors before the time of Linnzeus, more espe- 
cially to Klein, Petiver, and Seba, by the term Cymbium, 
and the word has been used in a generic sense in later times 
by Schumacher and Menke. In the Melon Volutes the 
upper edge of the whorls is, with one exception, coronated 
with erect or decumbent scales; in the Boat Volutes it is 
produced into a ledge stretching outwardly or inwardly, 
with the spire mostly immersed, and sometimes altogether 
concealed. Dr. Gray, in his able paper on the Volutide 
(Pro. Zool. Soc. 1855), states that the animal of the Melon 
Volute is oviparous, “the eggs being deposited in cartila- 
ginous egg-cases, like those of the other zoophagous mol- 
lusks ;” while the animal of the Boat Volute is ovo-vivi- 
parous, “the young when born being of large size, with 
a large irregular callous apex.” These observations are 
doubtless well founded; and the shells show obviously 
enough that the mantle of the animal is more developed 
and expanded in the latter than in the former, as may be 
seen by the vitrified glazing on C. prodoscidale, and more 
or less on C. Neptuni. The correctness of the sub-divi- 
sion of this genus by Broderip into two genera, Melo and 
Cyméba, is therefore supported by observations of the ani- 
mal. There has, however, been some confusion in the 
nomenclature. Dr. Gray, instead of following Mr. Bro- 
derip, has applied the term Cymbiwm to the Melons, and 
has distinguished the Boats by a new term, Vetus, comed 
from the French specific name of Adanson, /’ Yet. In 
the midst of this imbroglio of terms I have thought it 
best to fall back upon the old name Cymbium, embracing 
both forms, separated as sections. There are seventeen 
species in all, nine of the coronated forms, including one 
of intermediate form, C. Indicum, in which the whorls close 
over the spire, and are neither coronated nor ledged, and 
eight ledged species. Of the Melons, six are natives of 
the eastern seas, ranging probably to North Australia, and 
three are truly Australian. Of the Boats, seven are pecu- 
liar to the shores of West Africa, opposite the Canary 
Islands, and the remaining species, C. olla, borders on 
that locality with a more northerly range, reaching the 
coast of Spain. There are no Cymbia in the waters of 
the western hemisphere. 
Species 1. (Mus. Cuming.) 
CymBium Mirnropicum. COymb. testé suborbiculari-ovatia, 
ampliter inflata, fulvd, castaneo-fusco plus minus tinctd 
et bifasciatd, fasciis interdum in maculis, spird parvd, 
anfractibus superne contractis, squamis breviusculis 
nune erectis, nunc decumbentibus, regulariter coronatis ; 
columella triplicata. 
Tur Arutopran Cympium. Shell somewhat orbicularly 
ovate, largely inflated, fulvous, more or less stained 
and double-banded with chestnut-brown, bands some- 
times in spots, spire small, whorls contracted at the 
upper part, regularly coronated with rather short 
scales, which are sometimes erect, sometimes decum- 
bent; columella three-plaited. 
Voluta Athiopica, Linneus, Syst. Nat. p. 1195. 
Voluta Nautica, Linneeus. 
Cymbium coronatum, Klein. 
Cymbium ceramicum, Petiver. 
Cymbium Aithiopicum, Schumacher. 
Melo Athiopica, Broderip. 
Melo Nautica, Broderip. 
Hab. astern Seas. 
Two Linnean and Lamarckian species, Voluta Aithio- 
pica and V. Nautica, are included under this head, the 
latter being merely a variety of the former, in which the 
scales are decumbent. Dr. Gray was the first to unite 
them, and I am quite of his opinion. The species was 
well-known to conchologists, before Linnzeus’s time, by 
the names Cymbium coronatum and C. ceramicum, and it 
would have been well if the author of the ‘Systema Na- 
ture,’ whose nomenclature has become law in natural his- 
tory, had adopted one of them. 
March, 1861. 
