Periivinkle. 55 



George's Sound. Fig. 5 is called Cook's Turbo 

 (T. Codkii) ; this is a handsome South Sea shell, 

 oftentimes of large size. It has been found in great 

 numbers on th© coast of New Zealand. 



On Plate IV. we have placed two very curiously- 

 formed and marked shells, called Wentletraps, also 

 belonging to the family Turbinidce. The scientific 

 name is Scalaria, from the Latin scala — a ladder, 

 which the ribbed shells are supposed to resemble. 

 Of this genus there are about eighty distinct species 

 known ; they are mostly deep-sea shells found in 

 warm latitudes, although several inhabit the Eu- 

 ropean seas, and one, the Common False Wentle- 

 trap (8. communis), Fig. 1, may often be picked up 

 on our own shores. Fig. 2, the Royal Staircase 

 Wentletrap, is a rare and valuable shell, generally 

 brought from India and China ; the scientific name 

 is S. pretiosa, given to it by the French naturalist 

 Lamarck, on account of the high price which it 

 fetched ; pretiose, in Latin, meaning costly, valuable. 

 As much as £100 have been given for a single 

 specimen of this shell; and a fine one, especially 

 if it exceed two inches in length, yet commands a 

 considerable sum,' although not nearly so much as 

 that. A good deal like the False Wentletrap in 

 general outline, is the Awl-shaped Turritella, found 



