This is a very beautiful, and, at the same time, very rare shell; it formerly belonged to Mrs. Angus, at whose sale it passed into the cabinet of Mr. Dubois. Its general appearance resembles very much that of _C. Maldivus Lam._ known to our collectors by the name of the Spanish Admiral: the spire will, however, at once distinguish it; each volution is strongly concave in the middle, in which part are two or three delicate indented lines, very near each other, and following the volutions; the suture also is sufficiently open to be termed channelled; the spire is quite flattened at the base, (forming a sharp ridge round the top of the body whorl), and only prominent near the tip. In the Spanish Admiral Cone, the spire is quite smooth, the whorls being flat, and in all the specimens I have seen, (and they are many), the suture is quite closed up, though Lamarck (probably mistaking the present shell) says, "spira canaliculata;" the base, moreover, is narrowed, smooth, and black; not gibbous, granulated, (or striated,) and purple, as in this shell. A variety in my own cabinet presents some differences; the base is but slightly granulated, and the tip not purple; these are, however, subordinate characters, and constitute it only a variety. I shall take an early opportunity of pointing out the differences between _C. generalis_ and _Maldivus_, two shells even more likely to be mistaken for each other than those above-mentioned. * * * * * Pl. 111 [Illustration] CYPRAEA tessellata, _Mosaic Cowry._ * * * * * GENERIC CHARACTER. "_Testa laevigata, ovata, convexa, marginibus involutis, apertura longitudinalis, angustata, utrinque dentata, ad extremitates effusa. Spira minima, obtecta._"--LAM. Ann. du Mus. vol. 16. p. 443. _Animal marinum (Pectinibranchi). Penula dilatata, testam omnino obtegens. Tentacula depressa, subulata. Oculi juxta tentaculorum basin externam adsiti._--ADANSON, H. N. du Senegal. Shell smooth, oval, convex, the margins turned inward; aperture longitudinal, narrow, toothed on both sides, the extremities effuse. Spire minute, concealed.--_Lamarck._ Animal marine; mantle dilated and folding over the whole shell. Tentacula depressed, subulate, at the external base of which are the eyes.--_Adanson._ * * * * * SPECIFIC CHARACTER. _C. testa obtusa, gibba, aurantiaca, ad latera tesseris albis fuscisque alternis tessellata._ Shell obtuse, gibbous, orange, the sides with alternate tessellated spots of white and brown. * * * * *