1867.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON HYALONEMA LUSITANICUM. 1001 



conical, whorls rapidly enlarging ; upper whorls minutely keeled, the 

 others rounded ; axis imperforate. Aperture ovate, periostraca thin. 

 Opercules ovate, size of the aperture, shelly, thin, elastic like the 

 shell, concentrically striated externally, nucleus near the margin of 

 the middle of the columella side. 



Hab. Africa. 



This shell differs from all the other Ampulariadce in its extreme 

 thinness and elasticity, in the keeled upper whorls, and in the sur- 

 face being variegated. The substance of the sliell contains so much 

 animal matter that when bruised a depression, and not a hole, is 

 formed in the surface. 



I have named this genus of beautiful shells after my friend INIiss 

 J. Saul, who has the finest private collection of shells in the country. 



SaULEA VITREA. 



Shell ovate, subglobose, very thin and light, smooth, blackish 

 brown, variegated with bright yellow blotches from interrupted flexu- 

 ous transverse bands ; spire conical, about two-thirds the length of 

 the aperture ; apex rounded ; upper whorls obscurely keeled ; last 

 whorls regularly rounded ; axis imperforate ; peristome thin ; oper- 

 culum shelly, very thin, with the nucleus near the middle of the 

 inner or columellar margin. 



Helix vitrea. Born, Mus. 383, t. 15. f. 15, 16; Chemn. xi. 282, 

 t. 210. f. 2072, 2073. 



Ampullaria vitrea, Reeve, Conch. Icon. f. 



Hab. River Sherboro, Sierra Leone. B.M. 



10. Observations on Dr. Bowerbank^s Paper on Hyalonema 

 lusitanicum. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., 

 F.L.S., &c. 



Dr. Bowerbank read a paper at the Society's Meeting on the 28th of 

 November in which he concludes, " from microscopical examination, 

 that Hyalonema lusitanicum, which has lately been elevated to the 

 rank of a genus by Dr. Gray, and proposed to be called Hyalothrix, 

 is not even specifically distinct from //. mirabile of Japan." 



When Dr. Bowerbank prepared and read that paper, he had not 

 seen, much less microscopically examined, the specimen on which 

 my genus Hyalothrix was established, which is the only specimen of 

 Hyalonema lusitanicum in this country. 



It appears that he had examined a part of the sponge that was 

 found attached to one out of the twelve specimens of this coral that 

 M. Bocage had obtained. Finding that sponge very similar to that 

 attached to the Japanese Hyalonema, he pronounced the two corals 

 to be of the same species. 



Admitting that the sponge, the twisted axis, arid the polypes are 

 one sponge, which Dr. Bowerbank believes, though it is against the 

 universal opinion of all other zoologists, it surely is a very rash 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1867, No. LXIV. 



