GENERIC CHARACTER.
Animal a Limax. Linn.[[28]] Shell univalve, spiral, gibbous, flattish at the bottom: aperture semi-orbicular and semi-lunar, pillar lip transversely truncated.
*** Perforated with the lips denticulated.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Shell thick, glabrous, variously coloured, crown obliterated: lip toothed each side.
* Var. Variegated with white, red, and black.
Nerita Polita: testa crossâ, glabrâ, colore variâ vertice obliterato, labio utroque dentato.
* Ex albo rubro nigroque variegata.
Nerita Polita: testa lævi: vertice obliterato, labio utroque dentato. Linn. Mus. Lud. Ulr. 678. n. 392.
Linn. Syst. Nat. edit. 12. 2. 1254. 731.
Gmel. Linn. Syst. 6. 3680. 43.
Nerita Polita. Chemn. 5. t. 193. f. 200. 2014.
Rumpf. Mus. t. 22. fig. 1. k.
Argenv. Conch. t. 7. f. k.
Seba Mus. 3. t. 38. f. 56.
Lamarck T. 6. p. 2. 192. 7.
In the arrangement of Cuvier, entitled “Règne Animal,” the Mollusca or animal of the Nerita constitutes one of his “Gasteropodes pectinibranches,” the character of which as defined by that author is quite as comprehensive and rather less explicit than the Linnæan limaces: he divides them into several families according to the peculiar form of their shells, for collectively almost every genera of the spiral univalves fall under this very general denomination, as well as many of those shells which are simply conic, as in the Linnæan classification they do under that of Limax. Cuvier mentions as a character of this tribe that their breathing apertures, with the exception of a family he calls Cyclostomes, are composed of a number of foliations ranged parallel to each other like the teeth of a comb. They have two feelers, and two eyes usually situated on a pedicle. The greatest difference between these animals consist in the presence or absence of the canal formed by a prolongation of the edge of the pulmonary cavity of the left side, a respiratory organ communicating with others by means of which the animal breathes without quitting its retreat in the water.
According to Lamarck the animal of Nerita has the foot large and short, with two pointed feelers, and the eyes raised upon a papilla at the exterior base of each.
Bosc is less diffuse than either. The animal of the Nerites, he observes, have the head flat and lunate, a little sloping to the two extremities: from the base of the head on each side issues two conic slender horns, one of which is twice the length of the other. The eyes are two little black points placed upon a trihedral tubercule at the exterior base of the horns, the mouth placed underneath the head and formed with a lip, thick and wrinkled. The foot almost round, flat beneath, convex above, and rather shorter than the shell. The mantle or fleshy prolongation entirely covers the interior of the shell and is slightly crenulated at the margin.
Denys de Montfort speaking of the species Nerita Peloronata, a shell abounding on the shores of the Antilles, observes that there are male and female animals of this kind, the two sexes being isolated or distinct individuals; they are of an amphibious nature, living in the sea, from whence they ascend occasionally and crawl about the rocks.
Linnæus under the Nerita genus comprehends as well the imperforated or non-umbilicated kinds as those which have that perforation. The later continental writers divide these again, retaining the name Nerita to those which have no perforation; those with a perforation are called Natica, by the french authors Natice, after Adanson, Gualtieri, and Favanne. Lamarck has also a genus Neritina, and another Navicella, all which in the Linnæan system are of the Nerita tribe.
Nerita Polita is by no means an uncommon shell upon the coasts of the Indian Ocean, being found throughout their whole extent from Japan to the Cape of Good of Hope, and as it appears also upon the shores of many islands in the Indian and the Great Southern Ocean.
Besides being so very abundant in those parts, it may also be observed that no species of the testaceous tribe is more remarkable for the almost endless variety of colours, or the form and disposition of the spots, dots, and lineations, than the individuals of this kind of Nerit. There are, however, some few of its varieties which from being local are far less abundant than the rest, and the shell in particular which we have selected for the most conspicuous object in the annexed plate is one the most important of the number. The prevailing colour of the ordinary varieties is olivaceous, in some paler, in others more inclining to blackish; the charactered marks in general yellowish, triangular or sagittate, and varied with short blackish lines. This is the usual appearance of the back or upper part of the shell, the region surrounding the mouth is white, including the lip, the inside of the mouth yellow, and this latter character appears constant throughout all the varieties of the species. The particular variety which constitutes the chief object in our plate, is of the red banded kind, the bands being diversified with red and white, disposed in spots, and lineations, with peculiar elegance. The varieties of this banded kind are scarce in general, but the particular kind which we have represented is unique, whether regarded for its magnitude, its exquisite perfection, or brilliancy of colouring. We have represented the upper and under surface of this shell, together with the upper and under surface of a shell of the common kind, in order that by the contrast, the beauty of the former might be exemplified with greater perspicuity.
The history of this matchless variety of Nerita Polita is distinctly known: it is one of those shells which were brought from the Sandwich Islands by Captain Cook, when he returned from his first voyage of discovery in the South Seas. It was observed appended to an ornament worn at the breast of one of the natives, and was obtained in exchange, it is believed, for an iron hatchet; the Islander to whom it belonged esteeming it very much, and the English Officer being anxious to possess it. This circumstance of its having been affixed to an ornament worn by one of the savages, explains the reason of the shell being perforated, the hole having been made in order to pass a string through the shell to fasten it on the ornament securely. The shell was presented by Captain Cook to Sir Ashton Lever, in whose Museum it was subsequently deposited; and notwithstanding the defect above-mentioned, this little shell produced at the dissolution of the Leverian Museum, in the year 1806, the sum of nine pounds sterling, at the public hammer.[[29]] A celebrated collector, the late Mr. Noel Jennings, was the purchaser; and it is understood that on the subsequent dispersion of the collection of Mr. Jennings, which took place a few years ago, that it became, with some other very rare shells of that collection, the property of Lord Mount Morris.
END OF VOL. I.
Plummer and Brewis, Printers,
Love Lane, Eastcheap.
[1]. (Adamas.) “Proximum apud nos Indicis Arabicisque margaritis pretium est, de quibus in nono diximus volumine inter res marinas.” Plin. Hist. Nat. lib 37. cap. 4.
[2]. Vide Annales du Museum National. An. xi. (1802) Premier Cahier.
[3]. Le Cedo Nulli à bandes, ou dont la robe jaunâtre se partage en quatre bandes, l’inférieure et celle du milieu sont comparties de marbrures blanches, les deux autres sont remplies, l’une de quatre cordelettes à point blancs, la seconde de trois seulement. Tom. 1, p. 442.
[4]. This shell, though sufficiently intelligible among the figures of Kircher’s shells, engraved and published by Bonanni, and also in the works of Lister and some others, escaped the notice of Linnæus. So late as the tenth edition of Systema Natura it does not appear. Gmelin describes this shell with much accuracy in his edition of the last mentioned work, under the specific name of Scapha.
[5]. “Testa varicibus æqualibus longitudinalibus, &c.” is an incorrect reading of Professor Gmelin. If we examine the Linnæan description of the Museum of the Queen of Sweden, Mus. Lud. Ulr. to which Gmelin refers, we shall find it to be as might be naturally expected, “testa costis æqualibus;” for it is the ribs, and not for veins that Linnæus intended. Linnæus refers to the 10th edition of his Systema Naturæ, which is not mentioned by Gmelin, and here we again meet with the same reading “testa costis æqualibus, &c.” We have been the more explicit in pointing out this error, because we observe that one Conchologist, not long since, in the absence, doubtlessly, of the moment, has translated literally the Gmelinian text in describing Buccinum Harpa.
[6]. Lot 75 of the 60th day. July 2nd, 1806.
[7]. This article is thus described in the last day’s sale, lot 81, “An elegant and unique pink variety of the imperial sun, drawn up with the anchor of a ship, from the depth of sixty fathoms, in Cook’s Straits, New Zealand.” Sold for £24 3s.
[8]. In Orchard-street, Portman-square, Thursday, April 13th, 1815. Vide lot 84.
[9]. Système des animaux sans vertèbres, p. 86.
[10]. We have lately understood that the editors of Encyclopædie Methodique, now publishing in Paris, intend giving figures of the Papiliones of the Equites family, which Fabricius has described. This endeavour to illustrate Fabricius is under the direction of Mons. Latreille, a Member of the National Institute, an Entomologist himself, of acknowledged talent, and one to whose great ability, as well as personal urbanity, we are happy to bear our testimony of praise. In the absence of more conclusive authority, the conjectures of Mons. Latreille would be, unquestionably, useful; but we shall, ourselves, tread the same path, and as we trust, may assist also, in no small degree to dispel the darkness which at present overshadows this fair portion of the science. As we are, ourselves, possessed of the authentic evidences, by means of which, the species of Fabricius can be immediately identified, we have no occasion to wander into the labyrinths of conjecture: we at once arrive at the certainty of truth. The annunciation of this design, on the part of the French editors, leads to a conclusion of the importance attached to this endeavour: it need be only stated on our part, that the illustrations we shall subjoin to such of the Fabrician species as may pass under our own observations, will be precisely taken from the individual objects which Fabricius has described.
[11]. “Cornua cervina—bois de cerf.”—Seba.
[12]. “Horum processus admodum producti sunt; ut ideo Cornua cervina appellentur ob qualemcunque similitudinem. Corpus tamen Cochleæ semper pro ratione ramorum minus est, quam in Muricibus superioribus.”[[12a]]—Seba T. 3. tab. 77. p. 172.
[12a]. As Murex ramosus, of which several varieties are given in the plates Seba, Murex Saxatilis, &c.
[13]. Lot 305, third day, Saturday, May 25th, 1805.
[14]. The Hindoos entertain the belief of a general deluge, not very dissimilar to that of the Mosaic records. They admit, however, many such catastrophes of the earth, and subsequent renovations through the creative power of this attribute of Brahma, which they denominate Vishnu. The Chank Shell refers to a deluge of the earth, anterior to that which seems to accord with the sacred writ. The deliverance of the earth from the Mosaic deluge they term the lotos creation, the type of which is the expanded flower of the lotos, the indian pedma emerging above the surface of the waters with Vishnu seated in its centre.
[15]. Were it requisite to treat more amply upon this subject, it would be in our power to produce abundant evidence of the prevalence of this symbol of the sacred Volute, wherever Vishnu or his delegated power appears. The rich repository of the India House, the British Museum, and many private collections afford us some examples of the most interesting kind. Some few of these are so immediately connected with the object of our enquiry, that we feel persuaded no apology will be necessary for their introduction.
In the collection of Lord Valentia is a four-sided cast in brass, resembling a kind of pyramid, consisting of three low platforms, each bearing idols, and surmounted at the summit by a tortoise. In several Indian paintings mythologically adverting to the subject of the creation, the tortoise is represented raising the new-born earth upon its back above the waters, and it is usually seen in other mythological paintings of the same subject bearing the throne upon which Vishnu is seated, while the attendants, personified by various beings, are lifting the earth from the deep. Such a painting was once in the celebrated collection of Colonel Stuart: and we need no other evidence to shew that the bronze of Lord Valentia’s collection is of the same mythological nature, and referable to the deluge, than to observe the Chank Shell placed at each of the four corners of the ornament. We may comprehend the allusion of the tortoise raising the earth from the waters of the deluge, from a trait of the ancient Chinese astronomy; by the tortoise bearing the earth, they intended the north pole of the ecliptic, which, at the time of the deluge, they maintained had not materially changed its position, and that by this means the world was sustained and saved from utter annihilation.
An Indian painting, mentioned by Mr. Edward Moor, the author of the Hindoo Pantheon, presents us with another deity, Sivi, who holds the Chank Shell in one of his four hands, and the antelope (moon) in another.
There is also an Indian painting of Devi, who appears holding a Chank Shell, furnished on each side with a lateral lappit or wing: this symbol he holds in one hand, and the wheel, the emblem of the universe, in the other; and in a bronze of Vishnu, in the India House, we find the Chank Shell ornamented in a similar manner.
We have seen another indian painting, in which, not only the Chank Shell is furnished on each side with alæ, or wings, but an expanded flower of six petals is placed upon its pinnacle. This shell, if we may judge from its outline, is of that kind which has the spire depressed. Lord Valentia is in possession of a bronze cast, in which Vishnu appears reclined upon his couch of serpents, attended by Lakshmi and Satyavama, (eternity) in which the shell is also winged, and appears to be of that kind in which the beak is elongated or produced; and if this conjecture be correct, it will appear that the Hindoos venerate indiscriminately, and probably as the same shell, each of those three varieties of Voluta Pyrum, which we have mentioned in another part of this description. Our limits will only permit us to observe that we believe we may add with some degree of certainty, that the reversed shell, the more immediate object of our present dissertation, may sometimes appear also: there is in the temple of Visweswara, at Benares, a sculpture of Surya, the Indian personification of the sun, seated in his chariot driven by Aruna, in which the Chank Shell held in his right hand appears to have the aperture on the left side instead of the right, as in the usual growth of the shell. If this be not an oversight of the copyist (Mr. Moor) the circumstance deserves peculiar notice.
[16]. Vide Catalogue Lev. Mus. “Last day, July 12th, 1806, lot 77. The reversed variety of the High Spired Turnip, from Madagascar, extremely rare. £7. 7s.” p. 15.
[17]. “Le dessus du corps est d’un vert-sombre, qui jette quelques reflets dorés: les parties inférieures ne présentent que des couleurs rembrunies.” Buffon
[18]. A New Zealand specimen of this rare bird, lot 6286, sold for the sum of £2 10s. in the Leverian sale.
[19]. Wenteltrap, Wendeltrap, Rondom gaande trap, met een spil daar al de trappen in schroeven. Marin.
[20]. Vide Donovan’s British Shells, Vol. I. plate 28.
[21]. Serpula Linn. Vermicularus De Montf. Vermet Adanson. The animal of the Serpulæ, it may be added further, does not differ, according to Cuvier, from those of the Linnæan Genus Turbo, and consequently not from Scalaria of Lamarck and Cuvier, as must be concluded from their admission of Turbo Clathratus among the number of its species, in an arrangement founded on the organization of the animal, as well as its testaceous habitation. Cuvier himself observes that the animal of the Vermet, and also the opening (of the shell) resemble those of the Turbo, but that the whorls do not touch, and are in part irregularly curved like the tubes of the Serpulas.—Règne Animal T. 2. 419. And his classification further shews the analogy of these tribes of shells, since the animal of the Linnæan Turbo, the Vermets of Adanson, and Scalaria of Lamarck, are all of the same family, the Gastéropodas Pectinibranches of Cuvier.
[22]. Testa extus intusque nigra: lobo basis longiusculo. Animaux sans vertèbres. T. 6. p. 145.
[23]. Var. testâ albidâ; lobo basis abbreviato. Ibid.
[24]. We learn from Labillardière, one of the Naturalists attached to the expedition of Admiral Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, who went in search of La Perouse in 1791, 1792, 1793, that this report is true. When the French ships Recherche and Espérance touched at Tongataboo, there happened to be peace between them and Fidgi, and as usual when they are not at war, a considerable commerce was at that time carried on between them. This brought Vouacecee, one of the chiefs of Fidgi, to Tongataboo soon after the French had cast anchor, and as he paid them frequently a visit, they were able to collect from him some useful information. Vouacecee represented Fidgi to be very high land, of great fertility and lying distant in the north west direction about seventy-two myriametres. The myriametre reduced to our standard is six miles, one furlong, one hundred and fifty-six yards, and six inches, giving in total value about one hundred and forty-nine leagues, or four hundred and forty-seven miles. In the most favourable weather with the large double canoe the voyage to Fidgi from thence could not be less than three days, and when they had to struggle against the south winds they must ply to windward upwards of a month. The people of Tongataboo told them the people of Fidgi were cannibals: Vouacecee strove to exculpate himself by answering that it was only the touas, or people of the lowest class, who eat human flesh. But the assurances of the natives of Tongataboo were fully confirmed in other quarters, and Labillardière who observes they devour their enemies to satiate their fury, is entirely satisfied the chiefs as well as touas are Anthrophagi. These people, notwithstanding this atrocity, are represented as being far more advanced in arts and industry than the people of other islands, who receive from them in time of peace many articles of ingenious workmanship and produce of their island, and it is, no doubt, by this means that the Orange Cowry has been introduced among the natives of Otaheite and other islands in those seas.
Besides its being satisfactory to ascertain beyond any doubt the habitat of the Orange Cowry, the Conchologist is assured that other shells of the most choice and valuable kinds inhabit the seas of this island, for which reason it is presumed the above information may not prove altogether unimportant.
[25]. We should not omit to mention that this shell was called Aurora by Dr. Solander about the same time, Vide his MS. Whether he was indebted to this circumstance for the hint of so naming it, or on the contrary that the gentleman was aware of the name which Dr. Solander intended for it, is now beyond our means of ascertaining. It is more obvious that Chemnitz, and after him Lamarck, have received the name Aurora from one or both of these sources, although the anecdote may be itself forgotten.
[26]. Many of these are found on our own coasts. Vide Donovan’s British Shells, in which the figures and descriptions of a number of the species of these genera occur.
[27]. Last Day’s Sale, lot 74, £5 5s.
[28]. Linnæus describes the animal of the Nerita as a limax, the body of which is oblong, with a fleshy shield above, and a longitudinal flat disk beneath: aperture on the right side within the shield: feelers, four, placed above the mouth: eyes, two, and situated one at the tip of each of the larger feelers. This character does not exactly accord with the animal of the Nerita, for in this tribe, instead of the eyes being situated upon the apex of the longer feelers, they stand each upon a kind of papilla, situated at the outer base of the longer feelers. And besides this, it differs in some less material peculiarities.
[29]. Fifty-Eight Day (last day but two) lot 87, “A most beautiful variety of the Painted Nerita, having three rich pink bands on a dark clouded ground taken from an ornament worn by a native of one of the Sandwich Islands.”