FICULA. 
Puate I. 
Genus Frcvura, Swainson. 
Testa pyriformis vel ficiformis, tenuis, ventricosa, basi late 
canaliculata, canali plus minusve elongato, spird bre- 
vissimad ; columellé tenui; aperturé ampli, usque ad 
spiram extensd; labro tenui, integro.  Operculum 
nullum. 
Shell pyriform or fig-shaped, thin, ventricose, broadly 
canaliculated at the base, canal more or less pro- 
longed, spire very short; columella thin; aperture 
large, extending as far as the spire; lip thin, entire. 
No operculum. 
The Lamarckian species of Pyrwla, commonly known 
as ‘The Figs’ were first distinguished as a genus by 
Mr. Swainson in his ‘ Malacology ’, a volume of Lardner’s 
‘Cyclopedia’; founded, not, however, upon any knowledge 
of the soft parts, but upon the uniform generic affinity of 
the shells. Only four species are known, and three have 
been lately taken alive; the F. reticulata and Dussumieri 
were collected by M. Rousseau, a zealous naturalist 
attached to the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, during a voyage 
to Madagascar and the Seychelle Islands, and the #. /evi- 
gata was dredged, together with the J. reticulata, by 
My. Arthur Adams, Assistant Surgeon, R.N., in the Sooloo 
Sea during the recent voyage of H.M.S., Samarang. 
The. generic importance which Mr. Swainson attached to 
this limited group, has been fully confirmed by the pecu- 
liarities of the animal; although a canaliculated shell and 
so closely allied in form to the Pyrule carica, spirata and 
others, as to induce Martini to distinguish them. respec- 
tively, as the Light Figs, “Fici denues”, and the Heavy 
Figs, ‘“ Fict ponderosi”’, the animal approaches rather to 
Dolium and Harpa, having an elongated proboscis with 
the front portion of the disc rounded and lobed. 
The F. Dussumieri and reticulata have been beautifully 
illustrated by M. Rousseau under the new generic name 
Ficus, in M. Chenu’s handsome publication, ‘ Illustra- 
tions Conchyliologiques’; the tentacula are partially with- 
drawn, and the disc and mantle somewhat contracted, but 
the species are represented in an excellent manner. 
Mr. Adams possesses a drawing of the F. levigata, taken 
from the living animal, which will probably appear in the 
‘Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang’; in the 
mean time he has kindly furnished me with the following 
from his note book :— 
“The Ficula is a very lively animal when observed in its 
native element, crawling along with considerable velocity, 
and, owing probably to the lightness of its shell, able to 
ascend the sides of a glass vessel, in which I had it captive, 
with facility. The disc is very extensive, broad and rounded 
in front and acuminated behind, and not provided with 
an operculum, like the Pyrule; the mantle is thin and 
extends in two lateral lobes covering a great portion of 
the sides of the shell, and much more in the water, than 
is represented in the handsome figures of M. Rousseau. 
The proboscis is rarely exserted when the-animal is in 
motion, but the long tapering tentacles are stretched out 
to their full extent. The eyes are rather large and black. 
“Tn the species I observed (Ficula levigata, Reeve) the 
mantle was bright pink spotted with white and lighter pink, 
the under surface of the disc being of a dark chocolate 
colour with yellow scattered spots; the head and neck 
were pink and also covered with yellow spots. The 
specimen was dredged from thirty-five fathoms in the 
Sooloo Sea”. 
Species 1. (Mus. Cuming.) 
FIcuLA RETICULATA. 
plano-depressi, liris striisque longitudinalibus et trans- 
Fic. testa oblongo-ventricosd, spird 
-versis reticulatim cancellata, liris transversis plerumque 
alternatim majoribus ; albidé et violascente, rufo-fusco 
wregulariter et fasciatim maculatd, aperture fauce 
violaceo-albidda. 
THE RETICULATED Fre. Shell oblong-ventricose, flatly de- 
pressed at the spire, reticulately cancellated through- 
out with longitudinal and transverse ridges, transverse 
ridges generally larger alternately ; whitish and pale 
violet, spotted irregularly and in bands with reddish 
brown, interior of the aperture violet-white. 
Pyrule reticulata and ficoides, Lamarck, Anim. sans vert. 
(Deshayes’ edit.) vol. ix. pp. 510, 511. 
Hab. Sooloo Sea, northern extremity of Borneo; Adams. 
The cancellated sculpture of this species is subject to con- 
siderable modification ; after an examination of numerous 
specimens it is obvious that the P. reticulata and ficoides, 
of Lamarck, are merely different states of the same. 
May, 1847. 
