var. 



CON US Maldivus, 

 Spanish Admiral Cone, 



Chesnut variety. 



Generic Character. — See PI. Q5. 



Specific Character. — See PI. 127. 



Conus Maldivus. Var. B. testdcastaned,fascidalbescentemedidangustd 

 ornatd ; anfractus basalis basi ct 7nargine albis. 



Var. B. Chesnut, with a narrow whitish band in the middle ; base 

 and margin of the body whorl white. 



As a further illustration of the last plate, I have been in- 

 duced to figure this very rare variety, from a specimen I met 

 with at Mrs. Mawe's. In the disposition of its markings, 

 it approaches near to the shell represented in the Ency. 

 Meth. plate 325, f. 6, but the white band in the middle is 

 narrower, and quite destitute of the circular dotted lines 

 there expressed. 



No shells require a greater accuracy of delineation than 

 the Cones, particularly in expressing the peculiarity in the 

 form and sculpture of their spires. I am well persuaded 

 that a great number of the mistakes committed by authors 

 have originated in the wretched figures contained in Favanne's 

 work, and in the early volumes of Martini. Those of Favanne 

 are generally so loose and inaccurate, (although remarkably 

 well engraved,) that I do not wish, by quoting, to make 

 them any authority ; and most of the Cones figured by Martini 

 are equally bad. 



Bruguiere and Lamarck have both given the character of 

 spird canaliculatd to this species, which is altogether a mistake. 

 The spiral whorls are all but perfectly flat, and the suture is 

 quite closed up, although sometimes uneven ; originating, as 

 in many other shells, either from the inequalities of growth, or 

 from an accidental sea-break, which the animal may have 

 repaired. 



PI. 128. 



