PLA.TE XLVI. 



fine adult shell, which is now presented to the consideration of the 

 reader can possibly prove unacceptable, either as a distinct variety, 

 or in elucidation of the species of the former shell. It is the largest, 

 and the most magnificent example of the full-grown shell we have 

 met with in the course of our collecting, and indisputably the type 

 of the species Scapha to which we adverted in our former description 

 of Voluta nobilis, (pi. 4.) ;i 



This choice example of the species, which we have selected for 

 our delineation, once held a conspicuous station among the other 

 conchological rarities of the Leverian Museum, and realized by sale 

 at the public hammer the sum of eight guineas. Nor has the 

 species diminished in value from that period, for it still remains very 

 scarce, and when fine, never fails to produce a price of equal, if not 

 more consideration. In the ordinary routine of business, between 

 collectors and those who furnish rarities for the conchological cabi- 

 nets, the usual charge of a shell of this kind, in superb condition, 

 can be scarcely estimated at less than twenty guineas. 



The length of our present shell is almost six inches and a half, 

 its greatest breadtli four inches ; the colour delicate yellowish, change- 

 able in the shadows to a faint greyish purple, and all the lines and 

 spots of a lively brown. In respect to size, it exceeds the celebrated 

 example of Seba, which once formed a part of the Dutch Museum, 

 and was sent to Paris by the French, when they invaded Holland, 

 during the revolution ; neither does it yield in elegance and perfec- 

 tion to that shell, the rarity of which, as well as beauty, is so point- 

 edly described by that able Naturalist: "Cymbium exhibetur perquam 

 rarum, ex flavo et fusco elegantissime in modum marmoris, variega- 



