Mr. Broderip on two new Shells from the Mauritius. 201 



Habite les mers de I'Inde. Mon cabinet. Le dernier tour a 

 trois rangees de tubercules pointus; les autres n'en ont qu' une. 

 Longueur, 3 pouces. Vulg. la bourse," 



Now there would be no doubt as to this being the description 

 of the common Frog or Murex ranuy Lin.,* were it not for the 

 account of the aperture *' apertura aurantio-rubra, albo sulcata ;" 

 and I certainly have never seen a specimen of that shell, the 

 aperture of which justified the epithet of " orange-red furrowed 

 with white." On the contrary, all the specimens which I have 

 seen (and there is more than one variety) have been extremely 

 pallid in the aperture, which is almost entirely white, with a few 

 dashes of pale yellow or chesnut about the borders, and sometimes 

 without any. Lamarck's description of the aperture seems, how- 

 ever, to have weighed with Mr. Sowerby, who has named the 

 specimen which was in the Tankerville collection, R. crumena, 

 and the description certainly is very strong. 



On the other hand, we must recollect that Lamarck's R. cm- 

 menu is the Murex rana^ Lin. ; and, on referring xo the figures, 

 we shall find that there is not one which can be well mistaken for 

 R.foliata. If we strike out Lamarck's description of the aper- 

 ture, nothing will remain to designate any other shell than the 

 common Frog^ or, as he says, " vulg. la bourse;''^ and, when we 

 remember the painful visitation which compelled this great man 

 io use the eyes of others, we may cease to wonder at so highly 

 coloured a description. Ranella crumena is a very common shell 

 and is widely spread over the Indian seas. Ranella foliata is 

 very scarce, and the only specimens which have come to my know- 

 ledge (with the exception of that in the Tankerville collection, 

 which I am unable to trace) have been undoubtedly received from 

 the Mauritius, which place I have little hesitation in giving as its 

 locality. The finest of those known in England, is, I am told, in 

 the cabinet of Lady Farquhar, the Tankerville shell is in the ex- 

 tensive cabinet of the Provost of Eton, one was sold a short time 

 ago by Mr. Thomas, in King-street, and I have heard from Mr. 

 Gray that there is a specimen with the foliations much injured, in 

 the collection of Mr. Sowerby at Lambeth. R.foliata^ like many 

 * Tab. Supp. XI. fig. 2. 



