VITRINA. 
Puate I. 
Genus VITRINA, Draparnaud. 
Testa imperforata, depresse globosa vel auriformis, ad basin 
interdum omnino aperta, pellucido-cornea, submembra- 
6 ; ga be y 
nacea, plus minus nitens, spird pared, via emersd, an- 
Sractibus tribus ad quatuor, rapide acerescentibus, ple- 
rumgque arcuatim plicato-striatis ; apertura ampla, ob- 
liqué lunari. 7 
Shell imperforate, depressly globose or ear-shaped, some- 
times altogether open at the base, transparent horny, 
submembranaceous, more or less shining, spire small, 
scarcely emerged, whorls three to four, increasing 
rapidly, generally arcuately plicately striated; aper- 
ture large, obliquely lunar. 
Vitrina is a mollusc of great interest in the series. It 
possesses the fleshy shield of the slug, along with the 
spirally whorled shell of the snail. The shell is merely a 
horny membranaceous secretion, composed of only from | 
two and a half to four whorls; and it is too small for the | 
animal to retire into. The shell is highly polished, with 
no marking beyond a reddish linear band in one or two 
species, and it differs very little in typical form over a wide 
range of geographical distribution. 
About eighty species of Vitrina have been described, 
all inhabitants of the Hastern Hemisphere, excepting one 
a native of Greenland, and one in the United States which 
may have derived its origin from a transported European 
species. The shell inclines especially to a membranaceous 
consistency at the base, the part in more immediate con- 
tact with the animal; and some half-dozen, collected toge- 
ther in our Plate X., and forming the genus Peél¢ella of 
Webb and Van Beneden, are without any reflected base. 
Six of the Vitrine are European, one only, /’. pellucida, 
British. Africa, south, east, and west, contributes fifteen 
species, distinct from the European. Madeira has three 
species, two of which are of the Peltedla section, the Phi- 
lippine Islands fifteen, Ceylon five, India eight, Burmah 
and Siam four, Borneo, Malacca and Celebes four, Tas- 
mania and Australia seven, and New Caledonia and the 
neighbouring isles three. There is no record of any Vi- 
trina im the New World, beyond the two northern species 
already mentioned, But the genus is represented at 
Mexico and Brazil by a very characteristic type, Simpu- 
lopsis, in which the shell is plicately ribbed and more in- 
flated, with a less vitrified polish. 
| Toe Navan VirTrRina. 
Species 1. (Mus. Cuming.) 
Virrina NATaLENsis. 
vaceo-corned, supra peripheriam fascia latd rufescente 
Vitr. testa depresso-globosi, oli- 
tinctd, anfractibus brevibus, ventricosis, celeriter accres- 
centibus, levibus, nitentibus; aperturd parviusculd, 
labro juxta columellam tenué calloso-reflexo. 
Shell depressly globose, olive- 
horny, tinged with a broad reddish band above the 
periphery, whorls short, ventricose, increasing quickly, 
smooth, shining; aperture rather small, lip thinly 
callously reflected, next the columella. 
Krauss, Moll. Siidafric. p. 74. pl. 4. £17. 
Hab. Natal. 
Distinguished by its globose form, and in having the 
upper portion of the whorls tinged with a broad trans- 
parent reddish band. 
Species 2. (Hig. a, Mus. Cuming; fig. 4, Mus. Taylor.) 
Virrina SowErsByana. Vitr. testd depresse auriformi, 
brunneo-fulvd, eneo-tinctd, spird viv emersd, anfracti- 
bus angustis, concentrice plicato-striatis et corrugatis, 
ad suturas impressis, ad peripheriam obtuse angulatis ; 
apertura perobliqud, margine plus minus membranaceo. 
SoweRBy’s VirriNna. Shell depressly ear-shaped, brownish- 
fulvous, bronze-tinged, spire but little emerged, whorls 
narrow, concentrically plicately striated and wrinkled, 
impressed at the sutures, obtusely angled at the peri- 
phery ; aperture very oblique, margin more or less 
membranaceous. 
PreirFER, Pro. Zool. Soc. 1848, p. 107. 
Hab. West Africa. 
A very depressed auriform shell, of a peculiar bronze 
tinge, radiately plicately wrinkled. 
Species 3. (Fig. a, 6, Mus. Taylor.) 
VITRINA GIGAS. 
auriformi, virescente-olivuced, subopacd, spird parva, 
Vitr. testd depressd, ampliter oblique 
planata, anfractibus concentricé striatis, velociter ac- 
erescentibus, superne plano-declivibus, ad peripheriam 
rotundatis ; apertura perampliter patente. 
THE GIANT Virrina. Shell depressed, largely obliquely 
auriform, greenish-olive, rather opake, spire small, 
flattened, whorls concentrically striated, very quickly 
May, 1862. 
