366 Miscellaneous. 



Description of a new species of Volute. By W. J. Broderip, 

 Esq., F.R.S. etc. 



Voluta signifer. Vol. testd ovato-fusiformi, lonyitudinaliter ere- 

 berrime lineatd, subjlavd, signis spadiceo-brunneis irregularibus, 

 interruptis vittatd ; spird mediocri, subtumidd, apice subacuto- 

 mammillari, glabro ; anfractibus 3, ultimo longe maximo, subven- 

 tricoso ; labro acuto ; columelld quadriplicatd, plicis magnis. 



Long. 3f , lat. If poll. 



Hab. In Oceano Orientali ? 



Two bands of detached, reddish-brown, irregular, interrupted spots 

 wreathe the spiral whorls, and three such bands, with a trace of a 

 fourth, adorn the body-whorl. There is a wide interval between the 

 upper two of the bands of the body-whorl, and the third and trace 

 of the fourth on the same whorl. An irregular linear dash of the 

 same colour connects the three uppermost of these bands longitu- 

 dinally and centrally. Indeed the colour seems disposed generally 

 to run from the upper to the lower band of each pair. The terminal 

 notch is very deep and is surmounted by an unusually strong ele- 

 vated ridge. 



The specimen is faded and rubbed, but in form is nearly perfect. 

 When in fine condition V. signifer must be one of the most elegant 

 of the beautiful family to which it belongs. 



Mr. Cuming obtained this Volute in the present year, from the 

 cabinet of Dr. Dalen of Rotterdam, by whom it was liberally pre- 

 sented to him, although Dr. Dalen had no other example of the shell. 

 I never saw the species before, and as far as my experience goes, this 

 is the only specimen known. — Proc. Zool. Soc., Dec. 12, 1847. 



Extract from a Letter addressed, in June 1848, by Dr. Augustus 

 A. Gould*, of Boston, United States, to Wm. Thompson, Esq., 

 Belfast. 



" I wish there was some depot established in the two countries 

 through which small packages and pamphlets might at all times be 

 received and forwarded. Though we have now weekly intercourse 

 with England, it is scarcely once a year that we can get a pamphlet 

 or little package transmitted safely. If such a thing can be done on 

 your side, we will arrange something on this side. A box might be 

 forwarded once a month, into which all our naturalists might place 

 everything they wished to send, and thus all be sent to one address for 

 distribution f. The same thing being done on both sides, very great 

 trouble, expense and uncertainty would be avoided." 



* The author of a work on the ' Invertebrata of Massachusetts,' &c, and 

 conjointly with Professor Agassiz of a small work lately published entitled 

 * Principles of Zoology.' 



f We fear that the great difficulty would be in the distribution of the 

 various packages, &c. on their arrival, and in reimbursing any one who 

 should undertake this office. Pamphlets are not unfrequently directed at a 

 venture to persons who decline to receive or pay for them. No agency 

 would be so fit for the purpose as the Post-office, if the governments of the 

 two countries would agree upon suitable arrangements in the interests of 

 literature and science. — Ed. 



