108 PEOCEEDlNaS OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



often recurved up, but never obtuse, as it is in G. tigris ; the 

 description of this latter species given by Linnaeus twice contains 

 the word " obtusa " / 



I contend that C. vinosa is identical with C. pantherina ; Gmelin, 

 in describing it, says : — 



" C. testa supra ex albo vinosa " — many specimens of the 

 extremely variable species are suffused with a slightly reddish or 

 rose colour, which never happens in C. tigris. 



" Ocellis purpurascentibus circulo nigro cinctis " — the author 

 wanted to describe the dark, often bluish-shaded, spots, as in 

 C. tigris. 



" Lineaque horizontali alba "—regarding the figure cited (Bonnapi, 

 Recreatio, iii (1684), fig. 253), it is clear that Gmelin intended to 

 mention the whitish dorsal line. 



" Intus cserulea." 



" Habitat in mari mediterraneo " — this habitat does not prove 

 that my opinion is false ; C. pantherina is the largest Cyprcea living 

 in the Red Sea, therefore its shell was well known to the ancient 

 Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and was spread by them to all the 

 peoples inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. 

 One must not, therefore, wonder that Gmelin believed it to live in 

 the Mediterranean, as was held by some conchologists almost a 

 century later regarding C. moneta, annulus, etc. 



" Testae margine niveo " — the spots disappear on the margin, 

 for it is pressed down towards the flattened base of the shell ; in 

 C. tigris, on the contrary, the base is more rounded, the margin 

 therefore is displaced towards the dorsum, and lies still in the zone 

 of the big marginal spots. 



The figure of Bonnani, cited by Gmelin, shows a specimen of 

 G. pantherina very well, and I do not understand how Shaw could 

 call it " practically useless ". It could scarcely be taken for G. 

 lynx, Linn., for the spots are all of the same size. Gmelin also did 

 not mention the red interstices between the teeth, so characteristic 

 of the latter species. 



. Therefore there is no doubt, I think, that Gyprcea vinosa, Gmel., 

 must stand, G. obtusa, with its synonym G. tJieriaca, Melv., becoming 

 a variety. 



Cypr^a prestoni, Shaw (1909). 



Gyprcea interrupta. Gray (1824), was changed by Shaw into G. 

 prestoni, nov. nom., as being preoccupied by interrupta, Bolten 

 (1798). But it was superfluous to create a new name, for there is 

 a variety of it, G. rhinoceros, Souverbie (1865, Journ. de Conch., 

 xiii, p. 156), and this name must be used to designate this species. 

 G. interrupta becomes a variety the synonym of which is jorestoni. 



The name rhinoceros is not unsuited to this species, for there is 

 always a callous thickening on the back of the anterior extremity, 

 and very decorticated shells can easily be distinguished from G. 



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