840 MR. E. A. SMITH ON THE GENUS CHILINA. [Nov. 15, 



departure from the Cape necessitated the packing of my shell- 

 collection before I had time to record the capture of the living 

 mollusk ; and my cabinets remaining unopened till a few weeks back, 

 I thought no more of my discovery. Lately, however, I have become 

 aware of a point in the economy of Cceliaxis layardi that may be of 

 interest to conchologists ; and I therefore communicate this note. In 

 picking out some specimens for exchange with a gentleman in Sydney, 

 I was surprised to find a minute specimen fall from one I held in 

 my hand. On tapping it gently, eight or ten more fell ; and on ex- 

 amining others, I obtained several more. It is thus clear that this 

 curious shell (which resembles a small Megaspira ruschenbergiana) is 

 a viviparous species. The young shells show all the beautiful striae 

 of the parent ; and the young animal, showing through the pellucid 

 shell, is of a reddish-buff colour. 

 Noumea, New Caledonia, 

 May 20, 1881. 



7. Notes on the Genus Chilina, with a List of the known 

 Species. By Edgak A. Smith. 



[Eeceived August 22, 1881.] 



The object of the present paper is specially to point out several 

 errors which appear in a monograph by Sowerby in the ' Conchologia 

 Iconica,' written in 1874, and to contradict the statement that many 

 of the figures are taken from specimens in the British Museum. 

 This is most important, as hereafter it might be supposed that the 

 shells in question had been lost or in some way removed from the 

 Museum collection. The figures in the monograph referred to are 

 but copies in many instances of those which appeared thirty years 

 ago in the ' Conchological Illustrations ' by the same author. The 

 figures on plate i. which are taken from the old monograph are the 

 following: — fig. 1 « {C. fuviatilis); fig. 2 6 {C.Jluminea); figs. 3«, 

 3 6 (C. major); fig. Ab (C. dombeyana) ; and figs. 5», 56 (C 

 robustior). 



On plate ii. the following are copies: — fig. 6e (C. ovulis); figs. 

 la, 7b {C. fluctuosa); fig. 8a (C amjiiiUacea) ; and figs. 9a, 96 

 (C ffibbosa). 



On plate iii., fig. 10 (C. piielcha), fig. 12c, 126 probably (0. 

 tehuelcha), fig. 14 (C. tenuis), and fig. 17 (C parchappii), are 

 likewise copies. 



In each instance, with the exception of fig. 14 (C. tenuis), Mr. 

 Sowerby stales that the figures are from specimens in the British 

 Museum. This, I am bound to observe, is totally incorrect. Not 

 in a single case is such the fact ; for neither the collection of Mr. 

 Cuming nor that of the Museum contain any shells answering to 

 these drawings. The only figures representing shells actually in the 

 Museum are figs. 6«, 6 6 (C. acuminata), fig. 2 c on plate iii. (C. 

 fiuminea, var.), fig. 11 (C. patagonica), fig. l.'-i (C. elegans), fig. 15 

 {C./asciata), and fig. 16 (C. subcylindrica). Unfortunately I am 



