PARMACELLA. 



CORPUS repens, oblongum, dorsi mediali sub- 

 gibbo scutellifero ; parte postiea caiicliformi, 

 lateribus compressa, superne acuta. Sciitellum 

 ovatum, carnosum, postiee corpori adlii^rente, 

 testamque recondente, antice peiiitus liberum^ 

 margini dextro medio emarginatum. 



Testa parva, compresso-coclileariformis, 

 spira brevissima, papiiliformi, basi coarctata: 

 spirse apertura minima: labio externo subirre- 

 gulari, expansissimo. 



A Genus instituted by Cuvier, and adopted by succeeding^ 

 authors; it was first discovered by Olivier, in Mesopota- 

 mia, and by liim sent to Cuvier, who subjected it to an 

 attentive examination, and ascertained the existence of 

 the little shell under the fleshy scutellum on the back of 

 the animal. A second species has since been found in 

 Brazil, and described by De Ferussac, but neither of these 

 authors has favoured us with a general description of the 

 shell; and the latter, whose representation of it is the 

 only one we have seen, has drawn his figure from an 

 incomplete specimen. Bowdich's figure is a mere copy of 

 one in Cuvier's plate, and shows no more than an outline 

 of that part of the animal from whence the shell has been 

 taken, and not the shell itself. We on the contrary have 

 never seen the animal, but from the account of it given 

 by Cuvier and De Ferussac, we are enabled to present our 

 readers with a succinct description of it, which, however, 

 will we think sufficiently enable them to understand the 

 position of the shell. In general form this animal beai's a 



