CON us Generalis, 

 Flambeau Cone, 



Generic Character. — See Pi. 65. 



Specific Character. 



C. testd gracili, fused, fasciis albidis strigis undatis lungitudinalibus 

 inferryptis ornatd ; spirce productce apice aciito, anfractibus 

 concaiis, Icevihus ; basi nigrd. 



Shell slender, brown, with white bands, interrupted by longitudinal 



stripes ; spire produced, the tip acute, whorls concave, smooth ; 



base black. 

 Conus Generalis. Gmelin, p. 33. 75. var. a. Dillxoyn, 359. var. a. 



Martini, vol. 2. p. 58./. 645, 646. fdark varietj/Jf. 648 to 652. 



C pale varieties). Gualt.lQ f. G. 

 Conus Generalis. Brug. p. 642. Lam. Ann. vol. 15. ;;. 363. 



It becomes necessary to figure this elegant, but not un- 

 common Cone, in order to show the young conchologist the 

 little importance that should be attached to colour in the 

 discrimination of species : the figures will likewise point out 

 more fully the distin-ctions between the present shell, C. 

 maldivLis, and C cinctus ; three species, whose close affinity 

 require illustration. 



These relative distinctions may be comprised in a few 

 words ; they rest principally on the spire, which in C. gene- 

 ralis has the upper half much lengthened, slender, and acu- 

 minated : in C mnldivus the spire is thick and much shorter : 

 the whorls in both these species are quite plain, and nearly 

 flat : the spire of C. cinctus resembles the last in form, but 

 is deeply concave and striated. These characters are, I think, 

 very satisfactory as specific distinctions. 



On the other hand, some attention to these shells lately, 

 has convinced me that many of the species formed both by 

 Bruguiere and Lamarck should be more correctly con- 

 sidered as varieties ; inasmuch as their specific distinctions 

 rest, for the most part, on colour alone : this appears, indeed, 

 to be the leading character selected by these eminent concho- 

 logists, and to which, therefore, they have attached the 

 greatest importance. From this opinion, however, I com- 

 pletely dissent; on the principle, that no character which 

 PI. 118. 



