Mr. Gray's Replj/ to Mr. Swainson. 523 



(4) iExHERiA iubifera, testa irregular! (forma speciminis trans- 

 versa) valva superiore spinis irregularibus tubulosis con- 

 spersa. 



This species, like the other ^theriae, is extremely irregular in 

 its form : it is of a dull green colour and iridescent within ; the 

 outer surface of the upper valve is of a dark blackish green, ex- 

 cept where it is eroded, and it is sprinkled over with large irregular 

 tubular spines. From an examination of this specimen, together 

 with one of u^theria Lamarckii in the Tankerville Collection, 

 I have ascertained the meaning of Lamarck's " callosite oblongue 

 dans la base de la coquille," which is actually only the termina- 

 tion of the ligament, which in this genus, as in Unio, Anodon, 

 and others of Lamarck's Naiades is placed in a sinus ; aifording 

 another mark of analogy with them, and probably an evidence of 

 affinity as an osculant genus. 



Art. LXIV. Reply to Mr. Swainson on Neritina Corona 

 and Melania setosa. jBy John Edward Gray, Esq. 

 M. G. S. 



[To the Editors of the Zoological Journal.] 

 G ENTLEMEN. 



Mr. Swainson, in his remarks on my account of the Melania 

 setosa, asserts, firstly, that in quoting Lister t. 1055, f. 8, for his 

 shell, I set aside the authority of Linnceus, Gnielin^ Martini^ and 

 Lamarck ; secondly, that his shell, although not new to science, 

 has never been described or publicly recorded ; thirdly, that the 

 spines of Neritina Corona are not tubular. That these assertions 

 are unfounded, I think the following facts will prove. 



In the twelfth edition of the Systema Natura; of Linnaeus, the 

 figure of Lister mentioned above is not at all cited ; neither is it 

 referred to by Martini in his Couchylien Cabinette. The con- 

 tinuator of this work, Chemnitz, does indeed mention it as a 

 '' notable variety" of the Papal Crown, which, in his irregular 



