CYMBIUM. 
PuatE XXV. 
Species 16. (Fig. a, 6, Mus. Cuming.) 
CymBIuM PaTuLUM. Cymb. testd ovati, inflata, utrinque 
subattenuatd, fulvescente-lacted, epidermide tenuicula 
fulvo-olivaced indutd, spird breviusculd, anfractibus su- 
perne subangusté contractis, deinde ad marginem acute 
productis, intus circa apicem canaliculatis ; columella 
biplicatd, ustulato-castanco marginati. 
THE WIDE-OPEN CymBium. Shell ovate, inflated, a little 
attenuated at each end, fulvous cream-colour, covered 
with a rather thin fulvous-olive epidermis, spire some- 
what short, whorls rather narrowly contracted round 
the upper part, then sharply produced at the margin, 
internally channelled round the aperture; columella 
two-plaited, edged with scorched-chestnut. 
Cymba patula, Broderip, Spec. Conch. f. 4, 40. 
Hab. West Africa. 
Is this the young of C. Neptuni, or a distinct species ? 
‘Tt is not uncommon. There are several specimens in the 
British Museum, and Dr. Gray fancies that they show a 
passage of growth into C. Neptuni. The evidence of their 
relationship is, however, by no means complete, and the 
columelia of C. patulum is clearly only two-plaited. 
Species 17. (Mus. Cuming.) 
CymBium oLLA. COymb. testd ovatd, late inflaté, rugosa, 
rufescente-fulud, ferrugined, spird breviusculd, apice 
conspicuo, anfractibus superné obtuse rotundatis, mar- 
gine incurvo, deinde circa apicem subprofundé canalicu- 
latis ; columelldé tenué restricta, biplicatda. 
Tur por Cymspium. Shell ovate, broadly inflated, 
wrinkled, reddish-fulvous, rust-stained, spire rather 
short, apex conspicuous, whorls obtusely rounded at 
the upper part, with the margin incurved, then rather 
deeply channelled round the apex; columella thinly 
restricted, two-plaited. 
Voluta olla, Linnzeus, Syst. Nat. p. 1196. 
Oymbium mamillare, Klein. 
Cymbium Philippinum, Martini. 
Voluta papillaris, Gmelin. 
Cymbium papillatum, Schumacher. 
Cymbium olla, Menke. 
Cymba olla, Broderip. 
Yetus olla, Gray. 
Cymbium productum, Lowe. 
Hab. Mediterranean. 
It will be seen by the foregoing synonymy that authors 
have not always agreed either upon the natural habitat of 
this species, or upon the question of its identity with the 
Voluta olla of Linneus; but this want of agreement is 
the result of error rather than of a difference of opinion. 
Martini named the shell as coming from the Philippine 
Islands, and Lamarck gives Indian Ocean as its native 
locality, but it is now well known that C. ol/a is a Lusi- 
tanian shell, belonging strictly to the western Mediterra- 
nean, on the shores of Spain. There is no evidence of its 
having been collected within the tropics. 
The error of dissociating this shell from the Linnzan 
Voluta olla, and assigning C’. Neptuni to that species, needs 
also to be removed. In a recent paper by the Rev. R. T. 
Lowe, on the shells of Mogador (Pro. Linn. Soc. 1860, 
p- 191), the author, relying upon an opinion of Mr. Han- 
ley (Ips. Linn. Conch. p. 237) that this is not the Vo- 
luta olla of the ‘Systema Nature,’ has given it the new 
name of Cymbium productum. My. Hanley says :—“ As- 
suredly the Cymba olla of authors cannot be termed the 
Voluta olla of Linneus.” Having carefully examined the 
evidences on both sides, I can confidently state that the 
only evidence of any value against this species being the 
Linnean J. olla is that the columella is two-plaited, where- 
as it is described in the ‘Systema’ as being four-plaited. 
The evidence ix favour of its being the Linnean Voluta 
olla is as follows :—All the best figures referred to in the 
Linnean synonymy, namely, those of Klein, Lister, Ar- 
genville, Adanson, and Gualtieri, represent unquestionably 
the species under consideration. The figure of Gualtieri 
is a particularly characteristic one, and in Linnzeus’s own 
copy of that work, in the library of the Linnean Society, 
the name Yoluta olla is written against that figure, in Lin- 
neus’s handwriting. In some specimens of C. olla there 
is a rudiment of a third columellar plait, and there is also 
a winding ridge of enamel, with almost the appearance of 
a fourth. In the specimen figured by Gualtieri these ap- 
pear to be exaggerated, and may have suggested to Lin- 
neus the notion of the species being four-plaited. Another 
circumstance in favour of this shell being the Linnzean Volu- 
ta olla is, that the only specimen among the Linnzean types 
in the possession of the Linnean Society that can be re- 
ferred to it is the species before us; and upon examining 
Linnens’s own working copy of the ‘Systema Nature,’ I 
find against /. olla the ink-score corresponding with that - 
on the specimen, both in Linnzeus’s handwriting. 
March, 1861. 
