126 EOCENE MOLLUSCA. 



with filaments, sometimes with numerous papillae, and in some instances they are 

 smooth. The branchial organ consists of a single plume, and the dental apparatus is 

 composed of a series of rows of teeth, each row formed of one broad uncinated central 

 tooth, and three hooked lateral teeth on each side. 



In the young state, the Cowry presents a very different appearance to that which 

 it ultimately assumes. In the early stage of growth the outer lip is thin, sharp, and 

 simple, neither involute nor crenulated ; the aperture is wide and effuse in front, and 

 the spire is well-marked. In this state the shell is quite smooth, and without the 

 enamel and coloration which subsequently form its chief beauty. 



Various generic divisions of the Cypraea have been proposed by different authors ; 

 but they appear to depend mainly on conchological distinctions, the animals, in so far 

 as they are at present known, not presenting essential differences from the true 

 Cypraea ; and these genera, therefore, are more usually regarded as sections merely 

 of the present genus. A slight variation in the dental apparatus, and the papillose 

 surface of the lobes appear to distinguish the genus Trivia* the only section of the 

 present genus which is represented in our Eocene Fauna. 



As a genus, the living Cowries have a wide range, extending from the shores of 

 Greenland to the equator. The largest and most beautiful species are, however, 

 inhabitants of the tropical seas, where they are found in shallows under coral-reefs or 

 rocks. Upwards of 150 species have been figured and described ; of these one species 

 only {Cyp. Europcea), is found on our coasts. 



In the fossil state, a few species, referred to this genus, from the upper cretaceous 

 formations in Pondicherry, at Martignes (Bas du Rhone), and at Faxoe, in Denmark, 

 have been described by Professor E. Forbes, Matheron, and Sir C. Lyell ; but in the 

 eocene and subsequent formations, the genus has a much larger development. From 

 the lower and middle beds of the Paris Basin, twelve species have been described by 

 Lamarck, Deshayes, and Melleville ; from the miocene and more recent beds of 

 Touraine, Dax, and Bourdeaux, and the pleiocene formations of Piedmont and Turin 

 nearly seventy species have been described by Dujardin, Grateloup, Brocchi, Basterot, 

 Sismonda, and others ; and from the Crag of England, and the synchronous deposits 

 in Belgium, several other species have been described by MM. Sowerby, Searles Wood, 

 Nyst, and Philippi. Of the English eocene Cypraeae, five species only have hitherto 

 been described ; to these I now add four new species, three of which belong to the 

 section Trivia. 



No. 71. CyprjEA inflata. Lamarck. Tab. XVI, fig. 4a, b. 



Cyprsea inflata, Burtin. 1784. Oryct. de Bruxelles, t. 17. fig. T. 



— — Lamk. 1802. Ann. du Mus., vol. ii, p. 389, No. 2, vol. vi, t. 44, fig. 1. 



* Messrs. Adams' 'Genera of Recent Moll.,' vol. i, p. 264. 



