PLATE IV. 



and well understood can only tend to create confusion instead of 

 aiding- the pursuits of science, we can have no hesitation in retain- 

 ing it under its former designation. As a variety, we admit this 

 shell to be distinct and well defined, and to be so far prominent as 

 to merit a definitive appellation ; and it is under this persuasion the 

 term Nobilis, assigned but by Dr. Solander, is subjoined to the 

 specific name Voluta Scapha. 



This very rare kind of Voluta Scapha is from China, the 

 variety more coarse in its general appearance that constitutes the 

 type of this species, is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, 



Among the older definitions by which this shell was known 

 among the early writers, we may mention that of the learned Kir- 

 cher, whose museum of curiosities, extant in the beginning of the 

 last centurv, contained a shell of this kind, which Bonanni thus 

 describes: — ConchyUum ea i^arte latins qua in turhinem desinit 

 sine aculeis, et tuber culis, foramen non rotundum, ut in Purpura 

 et Buccina, sed lomjum.''' Musaei Kircheriani. classis iii. 10. 450. 

 et Bonan. 113. 



It may not be amiss to observe, in conclusion, that amidst all 

 the improvements which modern naturalists have made in the science 

 of Conchology, Voluta Scapha still remains a Volute among the 

 most approved writers of the present day, while most of those spe- 

 cies considered by Linnceus as appertaining to the same genus are 

 removed to other newly-constituted genera. 



The character of the true Volute, as it is at present laid down, 

 consists in the shell being of an oval form, more or less ventricose, 



