448 " THETIS " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



when assif^ning it a systematic position. He regarded Megala- 

 tractus as a subgenus of Semifusus. It is, however, worthy of 

 full generic rank ; the absence of a snout is alone worthy of such 

 recognition. 



The names Melongena and Semifusus seem to be applied 

 indifferently by different writers to most of the species that have 

 been assigned to either ; are they both valid and useful genera'? 



In his paper on the Prosobranchs of the " Vettor Pisani," so 

 many times referred to already, Haller* describes the anatomy 

 of a Fasus proboscidiferus, Lamk. (or in the explanation of plates 

 '' jjroboscideus") Now, the only mollusc which I can find to 

 have ever been known by that name is the one which I have here 

 described as Meg alatr actus aruanus, yet that which Haller 

 described is certainly not the same as my example, as the most 

 casual examination of his figures and mine will suffice to show. 

 The explanation of this confusion lies in the facts that Linneus 

 described two species under the name of M. aruafius, an American, 

 and an Australian. Lamarck subsequently named the Australian 

 species Fusus p)rohoscidiferus, whilst the American species had 

 already been designated Murex carica by Gmelin. There were 

 then three names to the two species, and it seems possible that 

 Dr. O. Boettger adopted Lamarck's name and short description 

 to the American species now known as Fulgur carica, Gmel. 

 Had Dr. Boettger's systematic and geographic account of the 

 " Vettor Pisani " collection been published! it would have been 

 possible to identify Haller's ^'^ Fusus proboscidiferus, Lam." As 

 it is, we must rest content with the above suggestion till F. carica 

 is again anatomically examined. 



Haller's sentence,! " Der Riissel der Fusiden ist bekann- 

 tlich sehr lang und bei F. proboscidiferus, wo er wohl die grosste 

 Lange erreicht, diente er Lamarck sogar zur Benennungder Art," 

 is altogether without foundation, for Lamarck§ said of the species — 

 " Ce fuseau est extremement remaquable par la partie superieure 

 de la spire qui ressemble a une trompe droite, comme implantee et 

 terminale," and it was doubtless this feature which suggested to 

 him the specific name. 



There is another case of slight doubt which must be drawn 

 attention to, and this time in the work of a French writer, and 

 this is rather surprising, for the French writers err rather on the 

 side of too much historical detail than too little. Amadrut|| 

 describes portion of the anatomy of a P. {yrula)ficus for 

 which he quotes neither author nor specific description. Now 



* Haller— Morph. Jarb., xiv., ISSS. 



t Haller— Morph. Jarb., xiv., 1SS8, p. 55. 



X Haller — Loc. cit., p. 159. 



§ Lamarck— Anini. s. Vert., vii., 1822, p. 126. 



!1 Amadrut— Ann. Sci. Nat., (8), vii., 1898, p. 20. 



