162 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Vol. VII, 



Many of the works containing the more or less recognisable figures cited by the 



earlier authors are, unfortunately, not available in India. Nevertheless there is not 



the slightest doubt that they include representatives of both the species above 



described in detail, while the diagnoses are generally far too concise .to elucidate the 



confusion which undoubtedly exists in the s} 7 nonyniy. 



Amongst the appellations for which any definite claim can be put forward to be 

 used as specific names, the oldest is probably Adanson's " le Minjac " (1757). De- 

 shayes regarded the figure as representing the same species as Sowerby's Dolium fim- 

 briatum, and it would correspond therefore with Dolium tessellatum as above described. 

 Deshayes has therefore adopted for this species the name Dolium minjac, Adanson. 

 Adanson, in his synonymy, refers to Lister's figure which represents Dolium macu- 

 latum, and to Rumphius' which represents D. tessellatum. The description is not 

 sufficiently detailed for establishing which species is meant. The body-whorl is said 

 to carry fourteen ribs, which, in specimens of the size of the one referred to by Adan- 

 son, namely two inches (about 50 mm.), might suit D. tessellatum; only, as the ribs, 

 over the widest part of the shell, on the figure illustrating the dorsal aspect, are shown 

 of two alternating sizes, of which only the thicker ones carry spots, it seems obvious 

 that the figure represents D. maculatum, and not D. tessellatum as conjectured by 

 Deshayes. As it is, Deshayes seems somewhat uncertain as to whether Adanson's 

 figure represents Sowerby's Dolium fimbriatum or Lamarck's Dolium variegatum (An. 

 sans vert., 2nd ed., p. 143, footnote). The locality, Senegal, is improbable, more so 

 even for Dolium tessellatum (Brug.) than for Dolium maculatum, Deshayes, since, in 

 the Indian Ocean at any rate, the latter extends much further west. 



The authority next in date is Linnaeus, in the 10th edition of the Sy sterna 

 Naturae, published in 1758, in which d' Argen ville's genus Dolium is merged into 

 Buccinum, and a species recorded as Buccinum dolium. The 10th edition is not 

 available in India. The synonymy as given by Gmelin in the 13th edition includes 

 the following citations : — 



Rondelet, Testacea, 106, Cochlea rugosa. 



Rumphius, Mus., pi. 27, fig. A, Cochlea striata s. olearia. 



Calceol. Mus., 30, pi. 41. 



Lister, Conch., pi. 899, fig. 19. 



Bonann. Recr., 3, figs. 16, 17, 25. 



Mus. Kircher, 3, figs. 16, 17, 28. 



Gualtieri, Test., pi. 39, fig. E. 



D' Argen ville, Conch., pi. xvii, fig. C. 



Seba mus. 3, pi. 68, figs. 9, 11 ; pi. 70, figs. 1, 2, 5. 



Mus. Gottwald. pi. 27, fig. 1856, fig. 188&. 



Knorr, Vergn., 3, pi. viii, fig. 4. 



Martini, Conch., pt. 3, pi. 116-118, figs. 1072-1075, 1082. 



Out of the twelve works mentioned in this list, only five are accessible in Cal- 

 cutta, namely those of Rumphius, Lister, Seba, Knorr, and Martini. 



The shell figured by Rumphius clearly corresponds with that here described 



