235 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SYi\ONYMY AND AFFINITIES OF 



DONOVANIA MINIMA (Mont.). 



By Martin F. Woodwaed, 

 Demonstrator of Zoology, Eoyal College of Science, London. 



Read ^th December, 1898. 



The observations recorded in this note were made at the suggestion 

 of Mr. E. E. Sykes, who sent me two live specimens of Bonovania 

 minima, with the request that I would endeavour to determine its 

 correct systematic position, considerable uncertainty existing as to 

 whether it should be regarded as belonging to the Pleurotomidae, or to 

 the Miu'icidse. 



On looking up the various published descriptions of this shell 

 I found that, in addition to the uncertainty regarding its affinities, 

 there was an almost worse confusion concerning its name. I have, 

 therefore, been at some pains to work out the synonymy of this 

 species, and though in the end I have adopted the name Bonovania, 

 given by Bucquoy, Dautzenberg, and Dollfus, yet, since I do not 

 quite agree with all the synonyms they have accepted for it, I have 

 ventured to append a short account of my re-investigation of the 

 subject. 



The earliest undoubted record is generally admitted to be that of 

 Montagu, in 1803,^ when, under the name of- Buccinum minimum, he 

 described a small shell answering perfectly to an almost mature 

 specimen of Bonovania. His figure is bad and unrecognisable, but 

 the description, as regards form, sculpture, colour, size, and locality, 

 fits extremely well. Hence Montagu's specific name is still retained. 

 There seems, however, to have been a doubt in the minds of some 

 writers whether Montagu, or Donovan first named this shell. The 

 latter author figured and described^ very briefly, under the name 

 of Buceinum hrunneum, a shell which appears to correspond to 

 Montagu's Buceinum minimum. Considerable confusion exists as to the 

 exact date of publication of the various volumes of Donovan's British 

 Shells, vol. V being variously given as 1802 and 1803. Mr. C. 

 Davies Sherbom,^ who has investigated this matter, informs me that 

 there is little doubt that the second half of vol. v, which contains 



1 Montagu, Test. Brit., pt. i (1803), p. 247, pi. viii, fig. 2. 



2 Nat. Hist. Brit. Shells, vol. v, pi. cxix, fig. 2. 



' Mr. CD. Sherborn's investigations show that the work was published in sixty 

 monthly parts, of which the first was issued in 1799 (month not known). The 

 five volumes appeared as follows: vol. i, 1799-1800 ; vol. ii, 1800-1 ; vol. iii, 

 1801-2 ; vol. iv, 1802-3 ; vol. V, 1803-4. Thus the later part of vol. v, in 

 which he describes Buceinum bnmnemn, did not appear until 1804. 



VOL. HI. — MARCH, 1899. 16 



