Zoological Illustrations Volume I Part 20

Bruguiere mentions that this species is generally found in the South American islands, Cayenne, and Guiana.

Mr. Dillwyn has given the new name of _aurea_ to this sh.e.l.l, in addition to the five others under which different authors have described it. Such changing of names and multiplication of synonyms, without strong reasons, are very objectionable. I have retained that of _Bruguiere_, as being the only author who has placed it in its proper genus.

Pl. 47

[Ill.u.s.tration]

BULIMUS citrinus (_var_. perversu).

_Reverse, banded Citron Bulimus._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 4.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 46.

SYNONYMS.

_Martini, vol._ 9. _tab._ 934 & 5. _Knorr_, 4. _tab._ 28. _fig._ 4, 5.

(bad.)

Bulimus citrinus, _var._ B. _Bruguiere_, 314. 27.

A fine pair of this beautiful and rare variety is in the collection of Mr.

C. Dubois, to whom I am indebted on this and many other occasions, for the facilities he has afforded me in prosecuting the present work: one of these is now figured; it differs in no respect from that in the last plate, except in being reversed and having the umbilicus not so completely closed; a character which, perhaps, exists only in very old sh.e.l.ls. The other specimen is also reversed and banded, though in a different manner.

BULIMUS aureus.

_Golden Bulimus.--upper and lower figures._

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_B. testa obovata, spira conica, anfractibus 5 convexis, sutura simplici, umbilico aperto._

Sh.e.l.l obovate; spire conic, of five convex volutions; suture simple; umbilicus open.

_Lister_ 34. 33. _Martini_ 9. _tab._ 110. 928. 929?

OBS. BULIMUS _aureus_, in Mr. Spurrett's valuable cabinet is another specimen of this sh.e.l.l minutely agreeing with that here described.

Having seen but a single specimen of this sh.e.l.l, I have placed it as a distinct species, not without some doubts, and princ.i.p.ally for the purpose of calling the attention of conchologists to a more rigid examination of the specific distinctions of this family (unconnected with colour) than has heretofore been done. The regular convexity of the whorls, not in any degree compressed at the suture, the want of that thickened appearance on the spire, and of the contraction at the base of the mouth (all which characters I have found in the varieties of _B. citrinus_ to be constant), afford a specific distinction which future observations must confirm or annul. Bruguiere notices a variety of _B. citrinus_ which is entirely yellow, a most beautiful specimen of which is in the British Museum, and which possesses (as well as the excellent figure of Gualtieri) all the specific characters I have given to _B. citrinus_, but not of the present sh.e.l.l. Lister's figure, on the contrary, is rude, though very characteristic of this; and Martini's representation, here cited, also appears the same.

Mr. Dubois, in whose collection this specimen exists, is unacquainted with its locality.

Pl. 48

[Ill.u.s.tration]

MITRA casta,

_Chesnut-banded Mitre._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 23.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_Mitra (Div. 3.) testa alba, laevi, olivaeformi, spira apertura breviore, anfractibus supra tenuiter reticulatis, basi epidermide castaneam fasciam formante, in anfractu basali centralem et latam._

Sh.e.l.l white, smooth, olive-formed, spire shorter than the aperture, the volutions finely reticulated above, the lower half with the epidermis forming a chesnut band which is central and broad on the basal whorl.

Voluta casta. _Chemnitz_ 10, _p._ 138, _vig._ 20 C D.--_figura mala_.

_Martyn Univ. Conch._ i. _tab._ 20.

_Dillwyn Catalogue_, _vol._ i. _p._ 554, _no._ 127.

All the writers I have been able to consult, uniformly describe this species as having a coloured band on the white ground of the sh.e.l.l. In the Banksian cabinet are two fine specimens, and which have enabled me to ascertain that this brown band is nothing more than an epidermis, or external coating, with which the sh.e.l.l is only partially covered--a circ.u.mstance of very rare occurrence; and which, being removed, proves the real colour of the sh.e.l.l to be of a uniform polished white. This, together with its excessive rarity, and the opportunity of giving original figures, has induced me to include it in this work, although it exists both in those of Martini and Martyn above quoted. I have neither seen nor heard of specimens being in any other collection, besides the two above noticed; and which no doubt were collected by their late lamented possessor on some of the South Sea islands. A striking affinity exists between this and _M.

zonata_ figured at the third plate of this work.

MITRA olivaeformis.

_Olive-shaped Mitre._

_M. testa olivaeformi, glabra, nitida, spira brevissima, longitudinaliter rugata, stria centrali transversa; columella 4-plicata._

M. Sh.e.l.l olive-shaped, smooth, polished, spire very short, longitudinally wrinkled, with a central transverse stria, pillar four-plaited.