Volume I Part 16 (1/2)
_A. (Div. 2.) testa apertura perversa: spira producta, 7-voluta, apice truncato; albida strigis nebulosis cinereis; linea transversa in basali anfractu; columella margineque labii exterioris castaneis, apertura intus alba._
Aperture reversed: spire lengthened, of seven volutions, the apex truncated, whiteish with clouded cinereous stripes; central band on the basal volution, pillar, and margin of the outer lip chesnut; mouth within white.
Reverse sh.e.l.ls, or such whose mouth when viewed in front is on the left side, are generally held in much estimation by collectors. This deviation from the usual form of sh.e.l.ls is sometimes accidental, as in our common garden Snail and several others; while in some species it appears a constant, and therefore a specific distinction. Such I apprehend is the case with the sh.e.l.l now figured, a rare and very elegant species, apparently not noticed by any writer; two or three existing in the British Museum and one in my father's cabinet are all the specimens I have hitherto seen. The latter (here figured) came from Bahia in South America. The whole sh.e.l.l is very finely marked with longitudinal striae, and the colouring better seen than described: the buff tinge at the base is occasioned by the remaining epidermis.
This sh.e.l.l belongs to the second division of the genus _Achatina_ as mentioned at Plate 30, having the aperture much shorter than the spire and the base nearly entire. _Bulla virginea_ of Linn. seems to connect the two divisions, having the lengthened spire of one and the truncated base of the other.
Pl. 37
[Ill.u.s.tration]
PROCNIAS cucullata.
_Hooded Berry-eater._
GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 21.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_P. corpore, collo, pectore nigro cucullata; tergo fusco, alis caudaque nigris; tegminum apice, pectoris lateribus, et corpore subtus flavis; capite subcristato._
Head, neck and fore-part of the breast hooded with black; back brown, wings and tail black; tip of the wing-covers, sides of the breast and body beneath yellow; head subcrested.
I am indebted for this new bird to Miss E. Yeates, who received it with a few others from some part of Brazil: it seems to connect the genera of _Ampelis_ and _Procnias_, having the bill much less dilated at the base than any of the latter; it however has a close similitude to _Procnias melanocephalus_ (Pl. 25.), which seems further removed from the true Chatterers.
Total length eight inches and three quarters. Bill in extreme length near an inch; the colour dark cinereous; the base furnished with bristles something resembling the Chatterers: the opening of the nostrils large, round, terminal, and nearly naked; the feathers on the crown lengthened; the whole head, neck, and fore-part of the breast black, bordered above by a narrow collar of yellow; back and scapulars brown, rump olive; sides of the breast, inner covers, and under parts uniform yellow; wing-covers black margined with olive, those on the shoulders tipt with brown, the rest with yellow; quills and tail black margined with olive. Wings four inches and three-quarters long, the first quill very short, the third longer than the second. Tail four inches long.
Pl. 38
[Ill.u.s.tration]
PICUS bicolor.
_Black and White Woodp.e.c.k.e.r._
GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 14.