»» MR. J. COSMO MELVILL ON 



curious fact that while nearly every other shell, hitherto 

 highly esteemed, has been brought home in abundance by 

 explorers and collectors, this and one or two others like 

 the Cyprcea leucodon, C. princeps, C. Broderipii, C. gut- 

 tata, and Conus cervus remain as they were in the days of 

 the Duchess of Portland, the first English collector, in the 

 middle of the last century. 



The land of its nativity is known : Jacna, I. of Bohol, 

 Philippines, where the late Mr. Hugh Cuming found two 

 examples, one very juvenile, scarcely more than an inch in 

 length. But its rarity there was so great that, although he 

 employed all the available natives in dredging- expeditions, 

 and the place has been searched frequently since, nothing 

 of the kind has again occurred. Rumour has it that the 

 original very circumscribed locality has been annihilated 

 by an earthquake, but I cannot hear confirmation of this, 

 though it is exceedingly likely, the whole of that region 

 being extremely volcanic. 



The total number of specimens known to exist is 1 2 ; of 

 these half are either immature or in very poor condition. 



There are five in this country, disposed as follows : — 



Three in the British-Museum Collection at South Ken- 

 sington. Of these two are the small specimens, one only 

 an inch and a half long, the other a little larger, collected 

 at Jacna by Mr. Hugh Cuming in 1838. 



The third is the specimen formerly in the Portland 

 Collection, then in the Tankerville, from whence it passed 

 into the hands of the late Mr. W. J. Broderip, F.E.S., 

 and thence into the National Collection. This is a fine, 

 full-grown, though pale-marked specimen, and is illus- 

 trated in Sowerby^s ' Catalogue of the Tankerville Collec- 

 tion,^ but very highly coloured. 



The fourth specimen in this country is in the private 

 collection of the late Mrs. De Burgh, of 61 Eccleston 



