src="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@39477@39477-h@images@v3_pl126.jpg" alt="Plate 126." title="Plate 126." tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img"/>

CONUS vitulinus, var.

Orange Fox Cone,

Brown-tipp'd variety.

Generic Character.—See Pl. 65.

Specific Character.

C. testâ fulvâ seu fuscâ, fasciis 2 interruptis ornatâ; spiræ brevis, levatæ, conicæ, maculatæ anfractibus concavis, subgranosè striatis; basi granosâ, albâ.

Var. testâ flavescente, fasciis obscuris, subalbidis ornatâ; basi rufâ. (Fig. nos.)

Shell fulvous or brown, with 2 interrupted white bands; spire short, elevated, conic, spotted, volutions concave with subgranulated striæ; base granulated, white.

Conus vitulinus. Brug. p. 648. Lamarck. Ann. 15. p. 265. Knorr. vol. 5. tab. 1. fig. 4 (optimè). Dillwyn 377.

Lam. Syst. 7. p. 467. 55.

Var. Shell yellowish, with obscure whitish bands; the base rufous.

I received this very uncommon shell from the Island of Amboyna; and although in size and colour it is widely different from the usual appearance of C. vitulinus, I have no hesitation in considering it as a remarkable variety only of that species.

C. vitulinus in general is a small shell. The best representation of it I have seen is given by Knorr; an author not in general very accurate in his figures. It varies considerably in colour, and approaches very near to C. vulpinus Lam. from which it principally differs in having an elevated, though short, spire, instead of one nearly flat: the base is granulated, and generally white; C. vulpinus also has the body whorl carinated and thickest round the upper margin, whereas, in Vitulinus, it is gently swelled in the middle.

M. Lamarck is, I think, mistaken in the synonyms of this shell, which is represented in the Ency. Méth. plate 326, fig. 2 and 4.. The shell at fig. 8. appears to me as the granulated variety of C. vulpinus.

Inhabits the Asiatic Ocean.

Pl. 127

CONUS Maldivus,

Spanish Admiral Cone.

Generic Character.—See Pl. 65.

Specific Character.

C. testâ lævi, posticè gracili ferrugineâ, maculis albis subtrigonis, cingulisque numerosis fuscis, albo punctatis, ornatâ; basi nigrâ; spiræ brevis apice acuto, anfractibus lævibus, planis.

Shell 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. Méth. 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. Méth. 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 Linnæan writers as a variety of C. Generalis, from which, however, it invariably differs, in being a much thicker shell, 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 destitute 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 shell, 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 shell 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

CONUS Maldivus, var.

Spanish Admiral Cone,

Chesnut variety.

Generic Character.—See Pl. 65.

Specific Character.—See Pl. 127.

Conus Maldivus. Var. B. testâ castaneâ, fasciâ albescente mediâ angustâ ornatâ; anfractûs 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 illustration 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 shell represented in