Volume Ii Part 8 (2/2)

Sh.e.l.l fusiform, reddish brown, with whitish bands; smooth; spire plaited and striated; base rugose; pillar 4 plaited.

Voluta caffra. _Gmelin._ 3451. _Martini_ 4. _tab._ 148. _f._ 1370.?

_Dill._ _p._ 545.

Mitra caffra. _Lamarck. Ann. du Mus._ vol. vii. p. 208. _no._ 30.

It is not improbable that _Mitra bifasciata_, (_Zool. Ill._ _pl._ 35.) may eventually be considered only a variety of the sh.e.l.l here figured, which accords much closer with the characters given of the Linnaean _M. caffra_, than any other; the two sh.e.l.ls, however, at the first glance, have a widely different appearance; yet not more so, than the smooth and plaited varieties of _Strombus vittatus Lin._ I have therefore retained the character given by Lamarck, as the best method to be followed in doubtful cases. In this sh.e.l.l, the plaits commence halfway round the body whirl; they are obtuse, crowded, and not angulated near the suture; the striae between are fine and decidedly marked; the base half of the sh.e.l.l strongly grooved; the suture rather compressed; the channel short and not recurved, and the aperture striated.

MITRA cra.s.sa

_Thick Mitre--upper and lower figures._

_M. (div. 3.) testa laevi, media cra.s.sa, fusca, fascia angusta sub-alba ornata; spira striata, striis intus punctatis; labio exteriore dentato; columella 5 plicata._

Sh.e.l.l smooth, thick in the middle, brown, with a narrow whitish band; spire striated, the striae with internal punctures: outer lip crenated; pillar 5 plaited.

A species evidently unknown to Lamarck; the upper margin of each whorl is thick and projecting; the striae on the body whorl are nearly obsolete, but on the spire become deep, remote, and having internally minute hollow dots; the inner margin of the exterior lip is strongly crenated, the aperture smooth, and the pillar with five strong teeth. I believe it was brought from the South Seas.

Pl. 89

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PSITTACUS murinus,

_Grey-breasted Parakeet._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 1.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_P. viridis, genis, auribus, gulaque cinereis; vertice, remigibus rectriciumque marginibus sub-caeruleis._

Green; sides of the head, ears, and throat, grey; crown, quills, and end of the tail, bluish.

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