A delicate and rather uncommon shell: first defined in the Appendix I subjoined to the Catalogue of the Bligh collection, dispersed by auction last spring. Mrs. Mawe informs me she has received this, along with other shells, from the Pacific Ocean.
EBURNA Pacifica,
South Sea Eburna.
Generic Character.—See Pl. 144.
Specific Character.
- E. testâ ventricosâ, maculis fulvis fasciisque albis ornatâ; spiræ angustæ, acutæ, suturis integris.
- Shell ventricose, with fulvous spots and white bands; spire slender, acute; suture entire.
- Eburna Pacifica. Swainson, Appendix to Bligh Cat. p. 6. lot 904.
- Eburna lutosa? Ency. Méth. pl. 401. f. 4.
- E. lutosa? Lam. Syst. 7. 282. 5.
A species at once distinguished by the entire suture and narrow-pointed spire; the inner lip is very thick, with a longitudinal sulcation near the umbilicus.
Whether this is the shell represented in the Ency. Méth. at pl. 401, f. 4, admits of doubt: a short description would have explained the characters, but not one word is said about it. I have already adverted to this novel mode of creating species at pl. 31. If authors will not be at the trouble of defining new species, they have no right to expect their names should be adopted by subsequent and more laborious writers, to whom they leave the more scientific task, of defining characters and collating synonyms.