MELVILL : ON MITRA RUGOSA. 333 



Mr. Lovell Reeve, in September 1844, published Plate xiv. 

 of his Monograph of Mitra in the ' Conch. Iconica,' and gave a 

 figure (No. loi) of the dorsal side only of this species,* which 

 at that time was in the possession of the late Thomas Norris, 

 Esq., Howick House, Preston, f He re-wrote the description, 

 in Latin and English, giving the name of the describer, how- 

 ever, as Sowerby, not Swainson. A slight error in nomencla- 

 ture has thus arisen, and as AfUra n/gosa (Sowh.) is occa.sioncd\y 

 found in catalogues — as in Paetel's — as a synonym of M. 

 {Turriciila) corrugata (Lamarck), the confusion is much in- 

 creased. 



According to the inflexible law of priority this well-known 

 species corntgata (Lamk.) is the true rugosa of Gmelin, 

 Lamarck's name having been thus antedated by some years. 

 That specific title will accordingly have to be restored To sum 

 up, there is 710 M. rugosa (Sowb.), Gmelin and Swainson being 

 the only authors who selected this term for any member of the 

 genus. 



The rule of priority in every other branch of natural science 

 so increasingly and peremptorily recognized, must become 

 equally paramount in concholcgy : according to its dictates a 

 complete revision of molluscan nomenclature has become com- 

 pulsory. It will therefore doubtless be necessary to re-christen 

 Swainson's species, and the name of that author being un- 

 fortunately preoccupied by a rare species described by Mr. 

 Broderip, from Columbia, I would suggest Tankervillei, after the 

 former possessor of this still unique specimen. 



Its locality is unknown, but most probably it is a native 

 of Eastern seas. The true affinity of the shell lies with M. 

 angulosa (Kiister) and M. viirabilis (Adams). 



* Sowerby, ' Thes. Conch. Mitra,' pi. xxiv. fig. 533, also gives a similar 

 figure. 



+ At the dispersion of that collection in 1873 it was purchased by Dr. 

 Prevost, of Alenjon, and, upon his death, I acquired the specimen. 



