346 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [von. 48 
VOLUTA MUSICA Linné 
Voluta musica LINNE, Syst. Nat., ed. x, p. 733, No. 370, 1758; Lamarck, 
Prodr. Nouv. Class. Coq., p. 70, 1799; Sowerby Thes. Conch., Mon. 
V oluta, p. 211, pl. xLix, figs. 36-43, 1847; Reeve, Conch. Icon., v1, 
V oluta, pl. vu, figs. 18a-18d, pl. 1x, fig. 18e, 1849. 
The Music Shell of the older authors was first given a binomial 
name by Linné in 1758, and his references to figures include both 
the variety afterward named by Lamarck carneolata, and that which 
is regarded as the typical variety in the present paper. The species, 
in a wide sense, is common to both sides of the tropical Atlantic, 
but little or no attention seems to have been paid to the geograph- 
ical distribution of the several varieties. The collection of the Na- 
tional Museum is well supplied with specimens of the American 
varieties, but in many cases the donor has remained satisfied with 
giving ‘West Indies” as the habitat. Linné mentioned Jamaica 
and Barbados as the localities for the species. A search in the lit- 
erature of the subject shows as habitats for VY. musica, without 
specifying the variety, Cuba, Guadaloupe, Santa Lucia, Isles de 
Saintes, Jamaica, Barbados, and Margarita Island, off the coast 
of Venezuela, where Krebs states the largest known specimens were 
obtained. There is no doubt that certain forms of the species, as of 
V. hebrea, occur on the west coast of Africa. 
We may now consider the varieties separately. 
Voluta musica typica LAMARCK. 
BoNNANI, Recreatio Ment. et Ocul., 1, p. 155, fig. 207, 1684 (cited by 
Linné) ; Lamarck, Ann. du Museum, xvi, p. 66, 1811; Encyl. Méth., 
pl. 380, fig. 1, 1780; Sowerby, Thes. Conchyl., p. 211, pl. xxx, fig. 
40, 1847. 
Tobago, West Indies (Rawson). 
Shell short, wide, buff or yellowish white under the usual brown- 
ish tracery, with six or seven subspinose stout ribs at the shoulder 
of the whorl; nucleus dark brown; sparse spiral sculpture near the 
canal only; interior of the aperture usually white; outer lip with 
black spots, pillar lip with nine to eleven plaits. 
U. S. Nat. Mus., 54,517 and 54,522. 
Lamarck names a violet tinted race of this form, variety violacea. 
This I have not seen. A specimen marked “ West Indies,” col- 
lected by Wright, may have been obtained in Cuba, where he gath- 
ered plants. 
Voluta musica carneolata LAMARCK. 
Lamarck, Ann. du Mus., xvi, p. 67, 1811; Encycl. Méth., pl. 370, fig. 4, 
1780; Sowerby, Thes. Conchyl., p. 219, pl. xLix, fig. 37, 1847. 
