I received this very uncommon shell from the Island of Amboyna; and although in size and colour it is widely different from the usual appearance of C. vitulinus, I have no hesitation in considering it as a remarkable variety only of that species.
CONUS vitulinus, var.
Orange Fox Cone,
Brown-tipp'd variety.
Generic Character.—See Pl. 65.
Specific Character.
- C. testâ fulvâ seu fuscâ, fasciis 2 interruptis ornatâ; spiræ brevis, levatæ, conicæ, maculatæ anfractibus concavis, subgranosè striatis; basi granosâ, albâ.
- Var. testâ flavescente, fasciis obscuris, subalbidis ornatâ; basi rufâ. (Fig. nos.)
- Shell fulvous or brown, with 2 interrupted white bands; spire short, elevated, conic, spotted, volutions concave with subgranulated striæ; base granulated, white.
- Conus vitulinus. Brug. p. 648. Lamarck. Ann. 15. p. 265. Knorr. vol. 5. tab. 1. fig. 4 (optimè). Dillwyn 377.
- Lam. Syst. 7. p. 467. 55.
- Var. Shell yellowish, with obscure whitish bands; the base rufous.
C. vitulinus in general is a small shell. The best representation of it I have seen is given by Knorr; an author not in general very accurate in his figures. It varies considerably in colour, and approaches very near to C. vulpinus Lam. from which it principally differs in having an elevated, though short, spire, instead of one nearly flat: the base is granulated, and generally white; C. vulpinus also has the body whorl carinated and thickest round the upper margin, whereas, in Vitulinus, it is gently swelled in the middle.
M. Lamarck is, I think, mistaken in the synonyms of this shell, which is represented in the Ency. Méth. plate 326, fig. 2 and 4.. The shell at fig. 8. appears to me as the granulated variety of C. vulpinus.
Inhabits the Asiatic Ocean.