54 



POPULAPw CONCHOLOGY. 



have been more valuable if it had been round. The same 

 author states that only four of these pearls had been dis- 

 covered in the vast numbers of molluscs that are annually 

 brought to market in that part of the world, though he 

 has reason to believe that this is in some measure owing 

 to the carelessness of the negroes. This pearl was exactly 

 of the same colour as the interior coat of the shell.* 



Rostellaria. Lam. — (Fusus Humph.) Shell rather 

 long, the spire and canal being both elon- 

 gated ; right lip dilating in age, and slightly 

 digitated, one digitation being carried more 

 or less towards the apex of the spire, and 

 attached to the whorls ; sinus near the base ; 

 operculum horny, and very small. Animal, 

 precisely described in the account of the 

 family. — 10 species f ; also fossil. 



These shells are more fusiform or turreted 



Rostellaria colum- 



than the other genera of this family, and are hata - 

 of a very elegant form which makes them much sought 

 after by collectors ; they are found in the seas of China 

 and the Moluccas. R. rectirostris is a very rare shell. R. 

 macroptera is a curious fossil species, having the outer 

 lip very large, nearly circular, and extending quite to the 

 lip of the spire. 



Philippi here adds Hippocrene and Rimclla as sub- 

 genera, containing only fossil species. 



DiBArnus. Phil. — Shell, rolled inwards nearly cylin- 

 drically round a pointed spire ; the mouth narrow, linear, 

 toothless, notched below ; the columella lip curved back, 

 the outer lip thickened, straight, with a slight indication 

 of a sinus. Animal unknown. — 1 species. 



Pennj Cyclopaedia, article Strombidce. 



1 Reeve's Iconica. 



