CON us. 



TESTA turbinata, seu inverse conica, rariiis 

 subventricosa, oonvoluta, spird pleriimque bre- 

 vissima. Apertura longitudinalis, angustata, 

 edentula, basi siibefFusa, labio externo ple- 

 rumque supern^ emarginato* 



Whatever dismemberments the greater number of the 

 Linnean genera have been subjected to, Conus has always 

 remained entire; the reason of this appears to be that the 

 general form of the shells included in it, is subject to but 

 slight variation; so that though it is one of the most nu- 

 merous genera, it has usually been divided only into two 

 families, the coronated and those which have no coronet. 

 The variations, however, in general form, to which this 

 Genus is liable, are such, that without great precaution, 

 several other genera may be confounded with it, such as 

 Strombus, and sometimes, though rarely, Cyprsea, in a 

 young state ; and its affinity to some Pleurotomas is so 

 near, that there exist some species which cannot, without 

 difficulty, be placed in their respective genera. We think, 

 moreover, that the Genus might be advantageously di- 

 vided into more numerous families, and that a further 

 division would be desirable to the student on accoimt of 

 the number of species. Those with a comparatively elon- 

 gated spire, for instance, might be well placed together ; 

 ioY though the spire of the Cones can never be properly 

 said to be elongated, still there are some whose spire is 

 equal in length to one-third of the whole shell: those 

 whose spire is very short might, perhaps, with equal pro- 

 priety, constitute a family : some again which are rather 

 ventricose, like C. bullatus, Aulicus, Geographus, Tulipa, 

 &c. might be divided into two families, the ventricose 

 coronated, and the ventricose without a coronet. Still 



