UNIVALVES. 



PLATE XXVI. 



Genus. VOLUTELLA. 



Character. Shell conical, with a depressed and tuberculated spire ; the body and 

 maxilla oris armed with spines or tubercles, and having four flutes on the columella; 

 the beak hardly perceptible. 



Species. 

 No. 1. Volutella nigra. Shell black, slightly edged with dark brown; mouth 



white, spotted with brown, with spinous Horns bent back, inserted in various 



parts of the body and spire. A native of the African Seas. 

 No. 2. Volutella sulcata. Shell thick, white, streaked transversely with a 



bright brown colour; tubercles very blunt. Native place unknown. 

 No. 3. Volutella divergens. Shell yellow, and beautifully tuberculated ; the 



mouth of a bright pink colour on the inner side. It is found upon the coast 



of Amboyna. 

 No. 4. Volutella rubescens. Shell reddish, with blunted spines and indentures ; 



the mouth white. A native of Guinea. 

 No. 5. Volutella lineata. Shell white, with red lines transversely marked ; 



mouth gray or brown. A native of the Eastern Seas. 

 No. 6. Volutella nigricans. Shell dark brown, and verging to black ; the 



mouth being brown and black; the spines numerous and pointed. It is 



found upon Cape Coast in Africa. 



REMARKS. 



The genus Volutella differs from all other shells in its peculiar characters and aspects; if it 

 were without the flutings upon the columella, it would much resemble the genus Conus in 

 most respects ; at the same time it cannot be placed with the genus Voluta, on account of 

 its spines. For this and other dissimilitudes, I have placed it in a distinct genus, and it may 

 now be said to fill up the space between Conus and Voluta, and from which it will be 

 readily recognized. These shells are all remarkable for their great weight and thickness. 



