Zoological Illustrations Volume Iii Part 3

_Spanish Admiral Cone._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 65.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_C. testa laevi, postice gracili ferruginea, maculis albis subtrigonis, cingulisque numerosis fuscis, albo punctatis, ornata; basi nigra; spirae brevis apice acuto, anfractibus laevibus, planis._

Sh.e.l.l smooth, posterior end slender, ferruginous, with angular white spots, and white bands dotted with brown; base black; spire short, tip acute, the whorls smooth and flat.

C. Maldivus. _Brug._ (1789.) _p._ 644. _Lam. Ann._ _v._ 15. _p._ 264.

C. Jaspideus. _Humphreys in Mus. Cal._ (1797) _p._ 12. _No._ 185.

Conus Generalis. _Var._ B. _Dillwyn._ 539. 11.

_Lam. Syst._ 7. _p._ 465. 50.

Var. 1. Band in the middle narrow; _upper figure_. _Ency. Meth._ pl. 325. fig. 6.

Var. 2. Band broader; _lower figure_.

Var. 3. Band very broad, with dotted transverse lines; _middle figure_.

_Seba._ _pl._ 54. _fig._ 11. 12. _Ency. Meth._ _pl._ 325. _fig._ 5. 7.

The general similarity existing between the Spanish Admiral, and two other cones, figured in this work, I have before alluded to; it has been placed by the Linnaean writers as a variety of _C. Generalis_, from which, however, it invariably differs, in being a much thicker sh.e.l.l, with a shorter spire, and the whorls without any concavity. The colour of the two species varies considerably in different individuals, but _C. Maldivus_ is always dest.i.tute of the dark brown longitudinal stripes at the top of the body whorl, peculiar to _C. Generalis_; the white bands are either broken into somewhat triangular spots, or are banded with minute dots; these triangular white spots are sometimes scattered in other parts of the sh.e.l.l, and the white band in the middle varies much in breadth; of all the varieties I have yet seen, the middle figure is that which makes the nearest approach to _C. Generalis_.

The very applicable name given to this sh.e.l.l by Mr. Humphreys, in the _Museum Calonnianum_, I should have adopted, had not Bruguiere previously affixed to it that of _Maldivus_, as being a native of the Maldivian Islands.

Pl. 128

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CONUS Maldivus, _var._

_Spanish Admiral Cone_,_Chesnut variety._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 65.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 127.

Conus Maldivus. Var. B. _testa castanea, fascia albescente media angusta ornata; anfractus basalis basi et margine albis._

_Var. B._ Chesnut, with a narrow whitish band in the middle; base and margin of the body whorl white.

As a further ill.u.s.tration of the last plate, I have been induced to figure this very rare variety, from a specimen I met with at Mrs. Mawe's. In the disposition of its markings, it approaches near to the sh.e.l.l represented in the _Ency. Meth._ _plate_ 325, _f._ 6, but the white band in the middle is narrower, and quite dest.i.tute of the circular dotted lines there expressed.

No sh.e.l.ls require a greater accuracy of delineation than the Cones, particularly in expressing the peculiarity in the form and sculpture of their spires. I am well persuaded that a great number of the mistakes committed by authors have originated in the wretched figures contained in Favanne's work, and in the early volumes of Martini. Those of Favanne are generally so loose and inaccurate, (although remarkably well engraved,) that I do not wish, by quoting, to make them any authority; and most of the Cones figured by Martini are equally bad.

Bruguiere and Lamarck have both given the character of _spira ca.n.a.liculata_ to this species, which is altogether a mistake. The spiral whorls are all _but_ perfectly flat, and the suture is quite closed up, although sometimes uneven; originating, as in many other sh.e.l.ls, either from the inequalities of growth, or from an accidental sea-break, which the animal may have repaired.

Pl. 129

[Ill.u.s.tration]

MELLIPHAGA torquata,

_White-collared Honeysucker._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 43.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_M. olivaceo-fulva, infra alba; capite auribusque nigris; torque nuchali lunato, albo; superciliorum cute rubra._

Fulvous olive, beneath white; head and ears black; nape with a white crescent, skin of the eyebrows red.

Black-crowned Honeysucker. _Lewin's Birds of N. Holland_, _pl._ 24.

An elegant, though not a richly coloured bird; remarkable for the bright red of the skin above the eyes, and the milk-white collar at the back of the head. It is from New Holland, and, like others of its tribe, derives its nourishment chiefly from the nectar of flowers; as more particularly mentioned in my first observations on this genus at pl. 43.

The figure is of the natural size: excepting the crown and sides of the head (which are deep black), the whole upper plumage is olive yellow: the shoulders, quills, and tail brown; the two latter margined with olive, but the exterior quills with white: the throat, breast, and collar round the nape pure white; skin of the eyebrows red.

The Lunated Creeper of Dr. Shaw (_Le Fuscalben of Vieillot, Certh._ _pl._ 61. _p._ 122.) is, I apprehend, a distinct species. It is described as being _cinnamon brown_ above, with a bright red spot of _feathers behind_ the eye. In the temperate climate of New Holland, that variation from the usual colouring of particular species, so frequent in tropical birds, is seldom met with; neither can these two birds be s.e.xes of one species, because Lewin, who wrote on the spot, particularly remarks that the female of this is like the male; he further adds, it is found near Paramatta, and the Hawkesbury river, in thick bushy woods.