The genera _Buccinum_ and _Murex_ of Linné, appear typical of the carnivorous order _Zoophaga_, whose shells are either notched or channelled at their base. These arrange themselves under two great divisions. In one the animal has an operculum or lid, which closes the entrance of his shell; in the other, the shell itself is more or less enveloped by two large lobes, called the mantle, with which the animal covers his habitation. Nevertheless, these two divisions, as M. Cuvier has fully shown, become insensibly united, and form one natural group. The two principal divisions of the operculated race are represented by _Cassis_ and _Murex_; the genera of the first have been pretty correctly made out; but those of the _Muricinæ_ require much reformation; so far as regards the definition of their typical forms, and their apparent series of affinities. * * * * * * [Illustration: CONUS. Pl. 1. _1. fumigatus. 2. franciscanus._] CONUS fumigatus. ---- Family Strombidæ. Sub-family Conianæ. GENERIC CHARACTER. See Lamarck. ---- SPECIFIC CHARACTER. _Shell smooth, spire very short, channeled, or with the whorls· concave: colour chesnut, belted with white, and articulated rows of chesnut dots._ Conus fumigatus _Brug. Diet. 94. Lam. Syst. 7. 496._ Icones. _Mart. 2 pl. 56. f. 618. Ency. Meth. pl. 336. f. 7._ ---- A species not conspicuous for its beauty, but by no means of common occurrence: its close resemblance to the next has induced us to illustrate both by figures. _C. fumigatus_ seldom exceeds the size here represented; it may at once be known from _franciscanus_ (which is a much smaller shell,) by the spiral whorls being _concave_, instead of _convex_: this species occurs in the Indian Ocean. If the student compares either _Strombus Luhuanus_, _Mauritianus_, or _Persicus_, with any of the wide mouthed Cones, he will immediately perceive the affinity between the two groups. In both, the operculum of the animal is small, but in _Conus_ it seems reduced to a mere vestage; while the shell, nearly rolled upon its own axis, indicates the near approach which Nature has now made towards the Cowries; a family, however, essentially distinguished by the great developement of the mantle, and the total absence of an operculum. ---- CONUS franciscanus. _Shell smooth, chesnut, with two white bands, the upper one near the suture: spire short, the whorls convex._ C. franciscanus. _Lam. Syst. 7. 493. Ency. Meth. 337. f. 5._ ---- Lamarck mentions Africa and the shores of the Mediterranean, as the native locality of this shell. It escaped our researches on the coasts of Italy, Sicily, and Greece, and we suspect it to be an Oriental species. * * * * * * [Illustration: PIERIS _Nigrina_.] PIERIS Nigrina. ---- PIERIS (_pars._) Latr: Stev. PONTIA (_pars._) Fab. Horsf. GENERIC CHARACTER.