77 



NOTE ON CYPR^A CAPUT- ANGUIS, Philippi, 



WITH THE 



DESCEIPTION OF A NEW VARIETY OF C. CAPUT-SEEPPNTIS. 



By Mrs. A. F. Kenyon. 



Read llth Febncm'y, 1898. 



In 1849 Philippi^ described this shell as follows: — 



" C. testa oblongo-ovata, valde convexa, lateribus incrassatis angu- 

 latis ; basi convexa, nigro-f usca, in dorso alboguttata, extremitatibus 

 albidis ; interstitiis dentium lacteorum aperturte fuscis. Long, ll^lin., 

 lat. 7^- liu. Patria . . . 



" Coloribus omnino cum C. capite-serpentis convenit, sed maculae 

 albse ad extremitates vix conspicuae, dentes aperturge in utroque labio, 

 sedecim, lactei, sulcis fuscis divisi, producti, incisura ad basin aperturce, 

 lata in sinistrum flexa, quibus notis forma oblonga, lateribus longe 

 minus dilatata accedit." 



No reference to the species is made in the monograph in Sowerby's 

 "Thesaurus" or Eeeve's " Conchologica Iconica," save the casual 

 mention in the index to the former of " caput anguis, Phil., not 

 identified." 



Mr. Melvill, in his " Survey of the genus Cyprma,'''' ^ after extracting 

 the above description, remarks : ' ' This species is said by Mr. Garrett, 

 Mr. Brazier, and Mr. Angas (all of whom have collected it plentifully, 

 the first in the Sandwich Islands, the others in Australia) to be quite 

 distinct, and to diifer mainly from C. caput-serpentis in the smaller 

 size, less dilation of the sides, and more obscure markings. I appre- 

 hend all these specimens will be but varieties of the commoner form, 

 distinguished by their greater convexity, and, if this surmise be 

 correct, the true C. caput- anguis of Philippi is a lost species . . . ." 



Mr. Eaymond Roberts, in his monograph of the genus Cyprcea, 

 places the form in his list of unidentified species, and remarks : ^ 

 " C. caput-anguis, Philippi. An unfigured species without known 

 locality, less than one-half inch in length, brown between the teeth, 

 and white-spotted at the extremities. Said to present a dorsal surface 

 similar to C. caput-serpentis, Linn., which has led authors to incorrectly 

 place it in the synonymy of that species." Further, when describing 

 C. caput-serpentis, he says : * " A more elongated variety of a uniformly 

 darker color, and with margins less angular, has been wrongly 

 identified by authors as the C. cajmt-anguis, Phil. Compared with 

 caput-serpentis. Pease says it is smaller in size, and the spots are 



Zeitsch. fiir MalakozooL, Jahrg. vi (1849), p. 24. 

 Mem. Manchester Lit. and PhU. Soc, ser. iv, vol. 

 Tryon's Manual of Conch., ser. i, vol. vii, p. 206. 

 T.c, p. 173. 



