178 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. I5, NO. 6, APRIL, I917. 



is monstrous from the unicellular point of view and scarcely micro- 

 scopic from our own ; and if great reduction in size is necessarily 

 associated with morphological simplicity it is possible that laviellata 

 has a more elementary structure than e.g. nemoralis because it is about 

 one-thousandth as big. Whatever be the explanation in this particular 

 instance — and perhaps it lies in the concurrence of several factors — 

 it is clear that comparative morphology has to take account of absolute 

 size.^ That all tiny snails should have the same simplicity is hardly 

 to be expected ; whether they have been derived from larger or 

 smaller forms is probably a germane consideration. 



Meanwhile much enquiry is obviously necessary. Observations on 

 the breeding habits of lamellata, aculeata, pygf?icea, etc., are required 

 as well as on the anatomy of specimens from various localities at 

 different seasons of the year. I should be glad to have living 

 specimens oi latnellata or any other small species, especially /j'^w<«fl, 

 pulchella, any Vertigo including edentula, and Ccecilioides. 



Note on Conus traversianus Smith. —This beautiful Cone, placed in the 

 sub-genus Rhizocontis by its author, was fully described in the Journal of Concho- 

 logy, vol. I, pp. 107, 108 (1875). It w^s then unique, and having been in 

 possession of the type for nearly forty years, I take this opportunity of exhibiting 

 it, both to shew the unusual style of painting and pattern, and likewise as being 

 peculiarly associated with him whom all malacologists are mourning at the present 

 time. This type is not in very first-class condition : the apex (as stated in the 

 original description) is broken off, and there is a rather disfiguring seabreak in 

 front, near the mouth, which is not represented in the woodcut. But, dorsally, the 

 salient characters of the shell, and its banded and filletted ornamentation are shewn 

 to great advantage. No longer, however, is it unique. Indeed it has been found 

 widely distributed through the eastern tropics. In the National Collection are 

 examples from Aden (Colonel J. W. Yerbury), and it is also reported from the 

 Persian Gulf (F. W. Townsend). The finest specimens I have myself observed, 

 however, are now in the Folkestone Museum, three in number, and form part of 

 the Poynter Collection. In these the shell is considerably larger than the type, of 

 a dark-brown orange, with rosy shading and effusion, the filletted decorations 

 spoken of above standing out more clearly and conspicuously. They are evidently 

 live examples. The habitat, Andaman Isles. The author named this most attrac- 

 tive addition to the genus after, to quote his own words, " a young and clever 

 student of this branch of zoology." It is no secret to say that it was given in 

 honour of Miss F. Travers, who was married to Mr. Edgar A. Smith the following 

 year (July, 1876), and towards whom and her family, we are sure, the sincerest 

 sympathies of all friends are directed at this time. — J. Cosmo Melvii.l. {Read 

 before the Society, Sept. 13th, 1916). 



I E. W. Bowell, Proc. Holmesdale Nat. Hist. Club, 1909, p. 79. 



