the omission of which may possibly be supplied by tracing the history of
this interesting shell from the time in which it first appeared in this
country; for there are local circumstances connected with it which
having escaped the mention of Dr. Leach, and consequently of Lamarck,
have led to the erroneous conclusion that it had remained till very
lately undescribed. Dr. Leach was probably not aware, or through some
oversight omits to notice that the specific name which he has given to
this shell was that assigned to it many years ago by Dr. Solander, and
that it has uniformly borne the name of _Anomia sanguinea_, or
(_Terebratula sanguinea_) among all the English Naturalists in
consequence from the time of that learned friend and companion of Sir
Joseph Banks down to the present period: It is the Anomia sanguinea of
Dr. Solanders MSS. and was designated under that name in the Museum of
the Dutchess of Portland: it appeared under the same appellation in the
catalogue of that museum, published in 1786: in the Calonnian Museum and
Catalogue, printed in the year 1795; it stood under that name also in
the Museum of Sir Ashton Lever, and it appeared under the same
denomination in the sale catalogue of that museum, published in the year
1806. Under all these circumstances it may be presumed the name must
have obtained no small publicity, and we need scarcely add that the
example of these authorities were followed in the Cabinets of english
collectors generally, that happened to be in possession of the shell,
among which was that of Mr. Cracherode, which was subsequently deposited
in the British Museum. And lastly, it should be mentioned that it occurs
under the same name in the Testaceological Manual of Mr. Dillwyn.
Nothing therefore can be more certain than that the french writers are
not correct in their opinion when they imagine that the shell had been
so named in the first instance by Dr. Leach; and it is no less certain
that the credit of having first noticed the species is due to Dr.
Solander, he described it more than forty years ago: his words as they
stand in his manuscripts are, “ANOMIA SANGUINEA _obovato,
longitudinaliter sulcata, triloba; sinu profundo nate producta latere
angulata foramen ambiente_.” Mr. Dillwyn has well expressed the
character of this shell in his description of Anomia Sanguinea, but has
by some oversight misquoted this passage of Dr. Solander’s manuscripts;
and by that means has confounded the _Anomia Sanguinea_ of Dr. Solander,
with his Anomia Cruenta; this will be more fully shewn hereafter.
Upon this subject we have only lastly to observe that although Lamarck
has deemed it requisite to give a specific character of this shell
dissimilar from that of Dr. Leach, he omits to mention, as well as the
former, that very conspicuous character of the species, the deep
longitudinal hollow down the middle of the upper valve, and the dorsal
elevation of the lower one. Lamarck, indeed, confesses that the
individual which he had under his eyes, and consequently that which he
describes, is not sufficiently perfect to authorize him in determining
the analogy between that shell and the Anomia Capensis of Gmelin, which
Chemnitz has figured; a circumstance that may explain the cause of this
omission in the specific character of Terebratula sanguinea. Yet we
should have thought a shell sufficiently entire to have enabled this
ingenious Naturalist to have composed his character of the species,
would have been so far perfect as to have justified some conclusion upon
its analogy with the Gmelinian Anomia Capensis. We may confidently add
that these two shells are totally distinct species, and are even
generically different if we enter very scrupulously upon their
distinctive characters. Dr. Solander had described this latter shell
before the time of Gmelin under the name of Anomia Cruenta.
The representations of this choice testaceous production, which
accompanies our present description, will, it is presumed, convey a more
correct idea of the shell than can be expressed by words. The Leverian
specimen from which, as before observed, these figures are taken,
realized at the public hammer at the Leverian sale the sum of five
guineas,[27] and it still remains so rare that there would probably be
little, if any, dimunition in the price were it again to be disposed of
in the same manner at the present period. The shells of this kind vary
in some small degree in the intensity of colour from a very deep
sanguineous red to a paler hue.
-----
Footnote 26:
Many of these are found on our own coasts. _Vide Donovan’s British
Shells_, in which the figures and descriptions of a number of the
species of these genera occur.
Footnote 27:
Last Day’s Sale, lot 74, £5 5s.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_35_
_London. Published by E. Donovan & Mess.^{rs}
Simpkin & Marshall, March 1, 1823._
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENTOMOLOGY.
PLATE XXXV.
PAPILIO BELLADONNA
BELLADONNA’S BUTTERFLY.
LEPIDOPTERA.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Antennæ thicker towards the tip, and generally terminating in a knob:
wings erect when at rest. Fly by day.
**** HELICONII.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Wings oblong entire, black with somewhat hyaline spots: posterior pair
with a yellow spot at the base, and two at the anal angle.
PAPILIO BELLADONNA: alis oblongis integerrimis atris sub-hyalino
maculatis: posticis macula baseos anguloque ani maculis duobus
flavis.
PAPILIO BELLADONNA: alis oblongis integerrimis atris: anticis hyalino
punctatis, posticis flavo maculatis. _Fabr. Ent. Syst. T. 3. p.
1. p. 180._
Papilio Belladonna. _Jon. fig. pict. 3. tab. 37. fig. 2._
Statura P. Pasithoe at major. Corpus nigrum abdominis marginibus
cinereis. Alæ atræ, cinereo punctatæ. Subtus concolores at lineola
maculaque baseos albis. Posticæ atræ, flavo maculatæ macula baseos
angulique ani majoribus. Subtus fere concolores.
* * * * *
A figure of this very rare and probably unique insect cannot fail, it is
presumed, of proving an acceptable addition to the collectanea of the
Entomologist: it is the only representation of the species now extant,
and has been ascertained upon the authority of the only document we now
possess of the insect intended in the Fabrician writings under the
appellation of _Papilio Hel. Belladonna_.
Fabricius, as it appears from his references in his Entomologia
Systematica, met with the drawings of this species in the collection of
Mr. Jones, whose cabinet also possessed the original specimen from which
the drawing was taken. It is from this individual example in the cabinet
of Mr. Jones that the delineation in the annexed plate is copied.
This curious Papilio is one of the larger species of the Heliconi tribe
to which it appertains. The wings are a blueish black, and rather
closely studded with sub-hyaline or transparent spots, which are
minutely speckled with black: those on the anterior wings are somewhat
sagittate and disposed into two irregular bands towards the exterior
half of the wings: those on the posterior wings are rather larger and
more inclining to an ovate form; and three of the largest, namely, one
at the base, and two at the anal angle, are of a bright yellow colour.
The inner limb of the wing is grey inclining to yellowish. The head and
thorax are black; the abdomen black with the sides pale yellow. The
spots being semitransparent the appearance on the underside in a great
degree corresponds with that above: there is a small difference, because
instead of one yellowish spot at the base of the posterior wing, there
are two, another smaller than that which appears at the base of that
wing on the upper surface being situated below it. We have been more
minute in the description of these spots, because upon an attentive
comparison of the insect in Mr. Jones’s Cabinet, with the Fabrician
description, we perceive some small deficiency in the latter, a
circumstance, it must be confessed, of rare occurrence in this author,
but unquestionably worthy of our notice and correction, as it is the
only authority upon which the species must in future rest.
The country of this interesting insect is unknown; it is remotely
conjectured only that it may be Africa. The insect is represented with
its wings expanded upon a sprig of
ERICA PARMENTARIA,
an elegant vegetable production of the Cape of Good Hope.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_36_
_London. Published by E. Donovan & Mess.^{rs}
Simpkin & Marshall, April 1, 1823._
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONCHOLOGY.
PLATE XXXVI.
NERITA POLITA. _Var._
PINK-BANDED VARIETY
OF THE
THICK POLISHED NERIT.
UNIVALVE.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Animal a Limax. _Linn._[28] Shell univalve, spiral, gibbous, flattish at
the bottom: aperture semi-orbicular and semi-lunar, pillar lip
transversely truncated.
*** Perforated with the lips denticulated.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Shell thick, glabrous, variously coloured, crown obliterated: lip
toothed each side.
* Var. Variegated with white, red, and black.
NERITA POLITA: testa crossâ, glabrâ, colore variâ vertice obliterato,
labio utroque dentato.
* Ex albo rubro nigroque variegata.
NERITA POLITA: testa lævi: vertice obliterato, labio utroque dentato.
_Linn. Mus. Lud. Ulr. 678. n. 392._
_Linn. Syst. Nat. edit. 12. 2. 1254. 731._
_Gmel. Linn. Syst. 6. 3680. 43._
NERITA POLITA. _Chemn. 5. t. 193. f. 200. 2014._
_Rumpf. Mus. t. 22. fig. 1. k._
_Argenv. Conch. t. 7. f. k._
_Seba Mus. 3. t. 38. f. 56._
_Lamarck T. 6. p. 2. 192. 7._
* * * * *
In the arrangement of Cuvier, entitled “_Règne Animal_,” the Mollusca or
animal of the Nerita constitutes one of his “_Gasteropodes
pectinibranches_,” the character of which as defined by that author is
quite as comprehensive and rather less explicit than the Linnæan
limaces: he divides them into several families according to the peculiar
form of their shells, for collectively almost every genera of the spiral
univalves fall under this very general denomination, as well as many of
those shells which are simply conic, as in the Linnæan classification
they do under that of Limax. Cuvier mentions as a character of this
tribe that their breathing apertures, with the exception of a family he
calls Cyclostomes, are composed of a number of foliations ranged
parallel to each other like the teeth of a comb. They have two feelers,
and two eyes usually situated on a pedicle. The greatest difference
between these animals consist in the presence or absence of the canal
formed by a prolongation of the edge of the pulmonary cavity of the left
side, a respiratory organ communicating with others by means of which
the animal breathes without quitting its retreat in the water.
According to Lamarck the animal of Nerita has the foot large and short,
with two pointed feelers, and the eyes raised upon a papilla at the
exterior base of each.
Bosc is less diffuse than either. The animal of the Nerites, he
observes, have the head flat and lunate, a little sloping to the two
extremities: from the base of the head on each side issues two conic
slender horns, one of which is twice the length of the other. The eyes
are two little black points placed upon a trihedral tubercule at the
exterior base of the horns, the mouth placed underneath the head and
formed with a lip, thick and wrinkled. The foot almost round, flat
beneath, convex above, and rather shorter than the shell. The mantle or
fleshy prolongation entirely covers the interior of the shell and is
slightly crenulated at the margin.
Denys de Montfort speaking of the species Nerita Peloronata, a shell
abounding on the shores of the Antilles, observes that there are male
and female animals of this kind, the two sexes being isolated or
distinct individuals; they are of an amphibious nature, living in the
sea, from whence they ascend occasionally and crawl about the rocks.
Linnæus under the Nerita genus comprehends as well the imperforated or
non-umbilicated kinds as those which have that perforation. The later
continental writers divide these again, retaining the name Nerita to
those which have no perforation; those with a perforation are called
Natica, by the french authors Natice, after Adanson, Gualtieri, and
Favanne. Lamarck has also a genus Neritina, and another Navicella, all
which in the Linnæan system are of the Nerita tribe.
Nerita Polita is by no means an uncommon shell upon the coasts of the
Indian Ocean, being found throughout their whole extent from Japan to
the Cape of Good of Hope, and as it appears also upon the shores of many
islands in the Indian and the Great Southern Ocean.
Besides being so very abundant in those parts, it may also be observed
that no species of the testaceous tribe is more remarkable for the
almost endless variety of colours, or the form and disposition of the
spots, dots, and lineations, than the individuals of this kind of Nerit.
There are, however, some few of its varieties which from being local are
far less abundant than the rest, and the shell in particular which we
have selected for the most conspicuous object in the annexed plate is
one the most important of the number. The prevailing colour of the
ordinary varieties is olivaceous, in some paler, in others more
inclining to blackish; the charactered marks in general yellowish,
triangular or sagittate, and varied with short blackish lines. This is
the usual appearance of the back or upper part of the shell, the region
surrounding the mouth is white, including the lip, the inside of the
mouth yellow, and this latter character appears constant throughout all
the varieties of the species. The particular variety which constitutes
the chief object in our plate, is of the red banded kind, the bands
being diversified with red and white, disposed in spots, and lineations,
with peculiar elegance. The varieties of this banded kind are scarce in
general, but the particular kind which we have represented is unique,
whether regarded for its magnitude, its exquisite perfection, or
brilliancy of colouring. We have represented the upper and under surface
of this shell, together with the upper and under surface of a shell of
the common kind, in order that by the contrast, the beauty of the former
might be exemplified with greater perspicuity.
The history of this matchless variety of Nerita Polita is distinctly
known: it is one of those shells which were brought from the Sandwich
Islands by Captain Cook, when he returned from his first voyage of
discovery in the South Seas. It was observed appended to an ornament
worn at the breast of one of the natives, and was obtained in exchange,
it is believed, for an iron hatchet; the Islander to whom it belonged
esteeming it very much, and the English Officer being anxious to possess
it. This circumstance of its having been affixed to an ornament worn by
one of the savages, explains the reason of the shell being perforated,
the hole having been made in order to pass a string through the shell to
fasten it on the ornament securely. The shell was presented by Captain
Cook to Sir Ashton Lever, in whose Museum it was subsequently deposited;
and notwithstanding the defect above-mentioned, this little shell
produced at the dissolution of the Leverian Museum, in the year 1806,
the sum of nine pounds sterling, at the public hammer.[29] A celebrated
collector, the late Mr. Noel Jennings, was the purchaser; and it is
understood that on the subsequent dispersion of the collection of Mr.
Jennings, which took place a few years ago, that it became, with some
other very rare shells of that collection, the property of Lord Mount
Morris.
-----
Footnote 28:
Linnæus describes the animal of the Nerita as a limax, the body of
which is oblong, with a fleshy shield above, and a longitudinal flat
disk beneath: aperture on the right side within the shield: feelers,
four, placed above the mouth: eyes, two, and situated one at the tip
of each of the larger feelers. This character does not exactly accord
with the animal of the Nerita, for in this tribe, instead of the eyes
being situated upon the apex of the longer feelers, they stand each
upon a kind of papilla, situated at the outer base of the longer
feelers. And besides this, it differs in some less material
peculiarities.
Footnote 29:
Fifty-Eight Day (last day but two) lot 87, “_A most beautiful variety
of the Painted Nerita, having three rich pink bands on a dark clouded
ground taken from an ornament worn by a native of one of the Sandwich
Islands._”
END OF VOL. I.
Plummer and Brewis, Printers,
Love Lane, Eastcheap.