The rarity of this choice and very curious shell arises from various causes. In the Chinese seas, which it chiefly inhabits, the species is very rare; it sometimes occurs upon the coasts of Coromandel, but sparingly, and in the other seas upon the coasts of India it is believed to be still more uncommon. These shells are, moreover, so very brittle that they seldom occur perfect, and more especially the larger ones, which in almost every instance is abbreviated or imperfect at the point or apex. And, it may be also added that like _Voluta Pyrum_, the _Sacred Chank Shell_, of which an explanation was given in a former plate, the Wentletrap is one of the sacred shells of the worshippers of Brahma, and consequently when found in fine condition, is sure to obtain a considerable price among the opulent devotees of that doctrine, the prevailing worship of the many millions of inhabitants that people India, China, and other vast regions of the continent of Asia. In China, shells of this kind, of a moderate size, are valued at from four to five, or even ten dollars a piece, those are shells of about an inch and a quarter in length, and such as exceed that size are considered in proportion valuable. In England a fine specimen about the same size last mentioned would be estimated in worth at little less than five guineas. The celebrated Wentletrap of the Leverian Museum was about two inches long, but as it exhibited little freshness of colour, it produced only eleven pounds. Since that period another specimen, a trifle larger, and with the same bleached or depauperated appearance in its tints of colour, was sold at the public hammer for twenty seven pounds. This is the highest price we have seen paid for a specimen of this curious shell: we have heard of fifty guineas being given by one collector for a shell of this kind. Considerable as this price may be deemed, it appears to have been exceeded in one, if not more instances, upon the continent. Denys de Montfort, speaking, as it may be presumed, of the low countries and France, informs us, that he has seen it sell, when the height or length has exceeded two inches, at two thousand four hundred livres, or one hundred Louis. It will be observed that he is alluding to shells about the same size as that delineated in the annexed plate, the outline of which is from the Leverian specimen; the colouring amended from a smaller but more recent shell.