66 Observations on a Shelly ^c. 



Dillwyn, in his descriptive catalogue, thus characterizes 

 it : " Shell ventrlcose, with the spire conical;, and coronated 

 with spines ; aperture dilated, with the beak long, and the 

 pillar flexuous." " Chemnitz's figure is five and one quar- 

 ter inches long, of which the beak occupies two inches. It 

 is coarse and ponderous, and slightly ribbed transversely." 

 From these remarks of Dillwyn, it is apparent that he had 

 no specimen before him, and that he only repeated what 

 had been said by others, referring to Chemnitz's figure, 

 as if that indicated the size of the shell. 



Wood, in his "Index Testaceolodcus " gives an unco- 



and a half 



circumstances 



followed the path of preceding authors • 



Lastly comes Lamarck ; and on his descriptions we may 

 rely with confidence, as they were written fix>m specimens 

 actually before him. He describes a shell under the 



name 



of Fusus proboscidiferus as follows : " testa fusiformi, 

 ventricosa, transversim sulcata, fulvo-mfescente ; anfrac- 

 tibus angulatis, supra planulatis ; angulo tuberculis nodi- 

 formibus coronato ; spira, parte superiore cylindracea, 



diforme, anice mamillari 



?j 



" I received this shell," says Lamarck, " under the name 

 of ' trompe cP Aru^^ but the characters and synonymes of 

 Linnseus and Gmelin do not correspond with it. This 



account 



probosc 



terminal. Length 3 inches 11 



lines. 



9J 



On examination of this description, 1 believe it will be 

 manifest that ours Is the same shell ; the only obscure 

 character being that relating to the end of the spire, which 

 is said to resemble a proboscis. In what this fancied re- 

 semblance consists I cannot say, but I am not surprized 



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