l66 Mr. Cosmo Melvill on the 



lip having a notch at the summit, i.e.^ Pleurotonia ; the 

 second, with the column plaited, Latirus (Montf.) and 

 Fasciolaria (Lam.). But, in justice to those who came 

 before Lamarck, it must be recorded that Linnaeus had 

 placed in the genus Vohita^ as opposed to Murex^ the true 

 Tzirbinellidce, those large ponderous Molluscs with con- 

 spicuous twisted columella, and with lingual dentition very 

 different from the Latzri and FasciolaridcB. It was Lamarck, 

 who in 1799, founded the genus Ttirbinella, and took the 

 first false step in uniting shells which had so few characters 

 in common, save the columellar plaits. 



Denys de Montfort,* indeed, in 18 10, differentiated the 

 genus i<2/m/i', not, however, on account of the true distinctions 

 as now understood, but simply because of the infundibuli- 

 form umbilicus, which occurs more or less in many of the 

 species, and the extent and depth of which varies exceedingly 

 in specimens of the same kind. 



I quote his original description (Conch., System II., 

 pp. 531 sqq.):— 



" Coquille libre, univalve, a spire turriculee ou fusiforme, 

 bouche allongee, columelle avec impression de plis, tran- 

 chante vers I'ombilie, levre exterieur tranchante, base 

 canaliculee, ombiliquee. 



" Espece servante de type au genre : — 



" Le Latire orange. 



'^ L. aurantiaciis = Murex filosus (Lamk.)." c.f. Mart: 

 4. t. 140., fig. 1308, 1309 et. t. 141., f 1314— 1316. 



• Many genera of Denys de Montfort, prepared in his Cojichyliologie 

 Systematique,' i8io, often upon insufficient grounds, have notwithstanding, 

 survived to the present day, we signalize such well-known names as Typhis^ 

 Trophon, Triton^ Phos, Cylinder, and Hermes (two stchgenera of Comis) 

 Calpurniis, Pyraztis, Lanisies, Clithon, ClanculuSy Helcion, Scaphander, Atys, 

 Zoniies, Gibbus, Melamptis, and Cyclophorus. An interesting note by Dr. J. 

 E. Gray, F.R.S. in Ann. and Mag. of N. Hist., 1869, p. 319, touching on the 

 .melancholy end of de Montfort, neglected and in most abject poverty, and also 

 of the reduction in circumstances of the great Lamarck in his latter days, is 

 worth perusal. 



^ 



