9^ Mr. Broderip on some nezo and rare Shells. 



VoLUTA MULTi-cosTATA. — Muny-ribbed Volute.''^ 



V. testa ovato-fusiformi, longitudinalitcr multi-costala, flaves- 

 cente, maculis nigricantibus, et lineolis nigro-spadiceis, froquenli- 

 bus, transversis ornala ; spira mediocri, apice acuto-papillari ; 

 columella multiplicata, plicis ultimis maximis ; basi corrugata, 

 emargiiiata. Long. 1 { unc. 



Mus. uost. 



Habitat ? 



Icon. Tab. 3. fig. 2. 



Shell ovately fusiform, with many longitudinal ribs, yellowish, 

 with numerous blackish irregular spots and transverse brownish 

 chesnut lineations; body-whorl corrugated at the base, which is 

 emarginate ; spire moderate, apex acutely papillary ; pillar many 

 plaited, the three last plaits being the largest. Length 1 \ inch. 



This pretty and interesting shell, of which I have seen no 

 other specimen, appears to form one of the beautiful gradations 

 from those Volutes, which are popularly called Musics, to those 

 which it is my intention to designate by the term Mitrifortn, from 

 their very near approach to the Mitres, In V. muUi-cosiata, the 

 upper plaits of the pillar are no longer strongly developed, the 

 spire is beginning to lengthen, and the apex is become almost 

 that of a mitre. Its locality is unknown. 



♦ Some parts of Lamarck's description of V. mitrcpformis will apply to tliis 

 shell: others will not. Neither in the Monograph in the " Annates du 

 Museum," nor in the " Animaux sans Vertebres," is there a reference to any 

 figure. The words " ornces de lineoles rousses transverses et de taches rowg-e-brun 

 sur un fond blanch&tre," and " lineoles rougeatres," do not convey the idea of 

 the almost black colouring of our shell, while they are not inapplicable to a 

 mnall specimen of F. costata (Swainson, Journ. of Science, vol. xvii. p. 33.) 

 Lamarck describes his shell from a specimen in his own museum. Should our 

 shell prove 1o be his mitrteformis, (and I am not at all sure it is not,) the name 

 above given to it must be cancelled. The back of the shell is very dark. 



W. J. B. 



