OF SOUTHERN INDIA. 311 
XL. Family —VELUTINID. 
H. and A. Adams, Genera, I, p. 199. 
The animal of Velutina has a large, oblong foot, the operculigerous lobes and 
the edge of the mantle somewhat expanded and partially reflexed on the shell, the 
head broad, tentacles subulate, short, far apart, with the eyes on short bulgings 
at their outer base; proboscis elongate, cylindrical, annulated; lingual membrane 
short with seven series of teeth, the central being large, broad, hooked in the 
middle and serrated at the sides, the next pair is similarly formed, but externally 
more serrated than internally, the two outer pair simple; the gills are said to consist 
of two plumes, composed of numerous strive, one of them being considerably 
smaller; no operculum is known. 
The shells are distinguished by the small number of whorls, the last of which is 
very large with a roundish and entire aperture, they are usually thin, having the 
surface either smooth or spirally striated. 
The species of Velutina are often found attached to stones at low water, but 
they are also met with at considerable distances from the shore, occasionally 
at great depths. The thin structure of the shell gives them indeed a pelagic rather 
than littoral character. 
Gray (Guide, 1857, p. 45,) and Chenu (Man. I, p. 212,) classin the Vazurinipz 
Lamellaria, Marsenina and others, which are, however, separated by H. and A. 
Adams as a distinct family, DLawerzaruvz# (Gen. I, p. 200). Iam not acquainted 
with the animals of any of the Lawzrzrarupx, but it appears from the form of 
their shells, that they cannot well be separated. The principal differences in 
the animals only consist in the greater development of the mantle and of the 
operculigerous lobes covering in the Lawzzzariipx nearly the entire shell. In 
consequence of this expansion and covering of the mantle, the shell remains 
very thin and pellucid, as in Vitrina. ‘There appears to be also a slight 
difference in the teeth, but all these distinctions do not seem to be so essential, 
as to necessitate the formation of a separate family, perhaps scarcely that of a 
sub-family, zammxzarizv#. In a fossil state such thin shells are only exceptionally 
found preserved ; they are, therefore, less important in fossil conchology. 
I may at this opportunity mention a number of genera which, as regards the 
form of their shells, closely resemble many Vzzurivipz2, and would seem to 
connect this family with the Carvzzpz, But their animals exhibiting several very 
remarkable distinctions from both of the last mentioned families, they have 
therefore been placed in the neighbourhood of the Avercvzinz and Liuvzmz. The 
genera, to which I mean to draw attention, are those like Otina, Gray (H. and 
A. Adams, Gen. IT, p. 249), Camptonyx, Benson, (ibid, p. 644), Lithotis, Blanford 
(Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1863, Vol. XII, p. 186), and others which have the gills 
rudimentary or not developed at all, and which are chiefly found living in the 
moist atmosphere on rocks along the sea coast. It appears to me, that these 
genera stand in precisely the same relation to the Capuzip” and Vzzurivip# as 
