26 JOURNAI, OK CONCHOl.OGV, VOL. 1 5, NO. I, JANUARY, I916. 



hers of this genus, with the great majority of purpuriferous marine 

 gastropods, grouping them to some extent sectionally, with the follow- 

 ing remarks, two species only being named : — 



*^* Dctrita, cohiiiielliz labium quasi abrasum, planum. 

 (a) B. haipa. "Z>'. testa varicibus cequalibus loHgitiidinalihus dis- 



" find is /iiuavftatis, coluiiiella lo'vigataT 

 {/>) B. costatuin. " B . testa varicibus cEqualibus lougitudiualibus 

 ''■ confertis iiiucrouatis, colu»ielia /(evii^ata, simillima priue- 

 '''■ de/iti forte varietas, sed costcB approximat.e.'' 

 ATr. Sylvanus Hanley^ after a close examination of the contents of 

 the Linnean moUuscan collections writes that — "Not only are almost 

 all the Harp-shells comprehended in the synonymy of {ii) as pub- 

 lished in the ' Syst. Nat.', but they equally suit the brief description 

 which accompanies it in that work. //. nobi/is, H. ventricosa, and 

 H. minor are all contained therein, and of these, the first named 

 {H. nobilis) has the best claim to be considered the typical form of 

 the ' Museum Ulricas,' since of the eight figures there quoted five are 

 habitually referred to it." 



Generally speaking, however, H. ventricosa Lamk., which (with the 

 smaller H. minor Lamk.) is the most frequent of the species, has 

 been considered the best exponent of the Linnean Buccitiuin harpa. 



Both Bruguiere (Diet., no. 9) and Dillwyn in his Catalogue, appear 

 to attach this specific name harpa to nearly all the existing recent 

 forms, treating them as numbered varieties, e.g. : — 



Buccitium harpa L. var. a (Dillwyn, Catalogue, p. 607) 



= H. ventricosa Lamk. 

 Buccinum harpa L. var. b (Dillwyn, Catalogue, p. 607) 



= H. rosea (Klein) Lamk. 

 Buccinum harpa L. var. c (Dillwyn, Catalogue, p. 607) 



= H. nobilis Lamk. 

 Buccinum harpa L. var. t/ (Dillwyn, Catalogue, p. 607) 

 = H. w/Vwr (Rumph.) Lamk. 

 Buccinum harpa L. var. e (Bruguiere, Diet., no. 9) 



= H. cos tat a L. 

 Buccinum harpa L. var. /(Dillwyn) = H. articularis Lamk. 

 There being a slight element of doubt, therefore, still remaining, it 

 is perhaps best to let the specific use oi harpa fall into desuetude and 

 allow the well-known name nobilis to remain. It will be noted that 

 Bolten uses it, which simplifies the matter considerably. All Bolten's 

 specific names, though unaccompanied by a description, have refer- 

 ences appended to some recognizable figure in an accredited work. 



T Hanley, Ipsa Linnjei Conchylia, p. 251 (1855). 



