UNIVALVES. 



PLATE L. 



Genus. PYRULA. 



Character. Shell pear-shaped, the base canal-shaped, and ending in a slanting 



form ; columella smooth, when seen in front ; spire smooth, undulated, and ending 



at the top in a round knob. 



Species. 



No. I. Pyrula tulipa. Shell of a pale flesh-colour, shaded with brown; the 

 form of the body and spire elegantly sinuated, exhibiting a most graceful 

 outline, and ending at the top of the spire in a small capitulum or knob ; 

 the beak and cheek widely open, and spreading ; the colour of the marbled 

 veins which invest the whole shell, in an undulated form, varies in depth of 

 tone in different individuals, being sometimes very dark, in other cases of a 

 very pale brown. It is generally found upon the coast of Africa and Ma- 

 dagascar, and is by no means rare, although remarkable for the singularity 

 of its form and character. The present specimen is in Mr. Spence's Mu- 

 seum, and is remarkable for the small tubercles which are ranged upon the 

 edge of the cheek. 



No. 2. Pyrula ccerulea. Shell pale blue, marked uprightly and across with gray 

 marks ; the mouth and columella white. This shell is supposed to be rare, 

 and is from the Indian Seas. 



No. 3. Pyrula indenta. Shell of a pale fawn colour; the mouth brown; the 

 spire and part of the body curiously ridged with a pattern of upright chan- 

 nels rounded, and ending in a knob or capitulum. Native place unknown. 

 From the Author's Museum. 



No 4. Pyrula hunteria. Shell of a blue and purple colour, richly marbled and 

 striped with white and black, forming in the whole a rich and lively appear- 

 ance ; the mouth blue. This shell has been lately imported from New Hol- 

 land, and being hitherto without a name, I have denominated it Hunteria, 

 in honour of the Governor of that colony, whose exertions in the prosecu- 

 tion and encouragement of its natural history have been so particularly 

 eminent. 



REMARKS. 



The Pyrula genus of shells is highly interesting to the Naturalist, from the great number of 

 fossil shells which have been discovered analogous to it, in the mountains of different parts 

 of Europe; no instance, however, has yet occurred of the forms of these exactly resembling 

 the living ones, and therefore it is supposed they have either been brought from other seas 

 at present unknown, or else are now become extinct. This genus, it is also to be remarked, 

 has a general similarity and affinity to the Murex tribe, but differs from them in not being 

 tuberculous in its body and spire. The honour of having properly distinguished it is to be 

 attributed to the French Naturalists Bruguiere and Lamarck, to whose distinctions the 

 Author confesses himself very highly indebted in several parts of this Work. 



