MOLLUSCA. 5 



rages at present, few of the above shells are yet figured, and I was under the 

 necessity of availing myself of the collection of Mr. Hugh Cuming for compaiison. 

 It is with much gratification I acknowledge the handsome manner in which his 

 very splendid collection was made subservient to my researches ; and parti- 

 cularly as it has enabled me to describe with confidence a number of small 

 species, which otherwise must have been left in doubt, and consequently without 

 notice. 



CEPHALOPODA. 



Family — Nautilace^e. 

 Nautilus. Linnceus. 



1. Nautilus pompilius, Linnseus. 



During our visit to Amboina, the animal of this shell was captured by a native 

 on the coast of the island, and very probably in the vicinity of where Rhumphius 

 obtained his specimen. It was carried to the Governor, Colonel De Steurs, who is 

 distinguished for his attachment to conchology. He immediately presented it to 

 Sir Edward Belcher, from whom it came into my hands for preservation. At this 

 time it had evidently been removed from the water for some hours, as it gave out 

 a tainted smell ; life was, however, not quite extinct, and some sluggish movements 

 were visible. It had hitherto been undisturbed, but the animal was now carefully 

 removed from the shell, and placed in spirits ; whilst the shell was marked, and 

 packed separately from all others of the same kind. On his arrival in England, 

 Sir Edward Belcher determined to present so valuable a desideratum to the 

 Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and the animal being removed from the 

 spirits, was replaced by myself in its own shell in the same manner whence it had 

 been removed ; and having been submitted to the examination, and received the 

 entire acquiescence, of Sir Edward Belcher, was transmitted direct to Professor 

 Owen. 



At Vavao, an island of the Tonga archipelago, a fossil Nautilus was found in 

 the limestone, but the specimens obtained are not such as to warrant any conclu- 

 sion as to the species. 



