SERPULA.
In the original version of the 'Museum Ulricæ,' the members of this genus are not separated from the Dentalia (a proof, among many others, of the early date of this catalogue). Linnæus, however, when revising the transcript, had meditated the withdrawing of S. arenaria and lumbricalis, and constituted for them a nameless genus with the following definition:—
Testa tubulosa, isthmis concamerata, dissepimentis integris, nec perforatis, s. communicantibus.
This genus would have been the equivalent of the modern Vermetus.
S. triquetra. D. triquetrum, adhærens.
The reference to Gualtieri (whose figure was somewhat uncertain, yet probably designed for Vermilia triquetra) was queried. The proposed name was D. parasiticum.
S. contortuplicata. D. teretiusculum, depressum, rugosum.
There was at first no name to the description of this shell; but it was added in the handwriting of Linnæus.
S. glomerata. D. teres glomeratum.
The 'decussato-rugosa' of the 'Systema', applicable to the 'Vermetus subcancellatus', the shell designed in that work, was not inserted. Gualtieri's figure is that of Vermetus glomeratus, for the colouring of which 'alba' would be a most inappropriate term.
S. lumbricalis. D. spira divaricata teretiusculum, integrum.
D'Arg. t. 29. f. 1. was an additional synonym.
S. arenaria. D. teres rectiusculum intestiniforme.
Despite the name borrowed from Rumphius, the Vermetus gigas was the object defined in the tenth edition of the 'Systema'. The absence from the manuscript of the reference to Gualtieri's drawing of that shell, and "rectiusculum" in the written diagnosis, confirms the conclusion previously arrived at, that the Septaria arenaria of authors was the species intended in the 'Museum Ulricæ': it was subsequently termed S. polythalamia by Linnæus. The delusive "subangulata" of the supposititious diagnosis was of course absent.
The V. gigas was probably intended by the following unpublished description.
D. intestiniforme. D. teres flexuosum intestiniforme.
Testa rudis crassitie digiti et ultro, flexuosa vario modo in diversis, integra, intus lævis.
S. anguina.
The two very dissimilar Siliquariæ united under this appellation in the 'Museum Ulricæ,' were originally held distinct. The prickly variety was the unpublished type, and was thus defined:—
D. anguinum. D. spira inæquali angulata aculeata, sulco longitudinali perforata.
Rumph. 125. t. 41. f. H. Solen anguinus.
Lang. Test. 6. Tubulus vermicularis crista dentata.
Testa albida, teretiuscula, angulis 9 obsoletis. Anfractus inæquales, nunc confertiores, nunc remotiores. Sulcus longitudinalis in superiore latere perforatus serie punctorum. Spinæ breves, fornicatæ ad angulos in latere inferiore.
Condensation, that peculiar faculty of the mental organization of Linnæus, induced him to suppress this description, and attach the species, as a variety, to the form he had simultaneously characterized as D. spira elongata, teretiusculum, inerme, fissura longitudinali. Gualt. test. 10. f. z.
To this latter the published details belong, except the expression "passim concatenata et quasi poris pertusa" (which was a subsequent and fallacious addition), and the account of the variety.
S. penis. D. teres, extremitate radiata disco cylindris poroso.
"Bonan. i. f. 38.", indicated in the tenth edition of the 'Systema', was among the synonyms. The "Stigma, &c." was an addition; so too were "lævis," "tubulosis", and "æqualibus". The term "hemisphærico" has replaced the earlier "convexo."
In addition to the published species, the S. Spirorbis of the 'Systema' appears to have been indicated as
D. planorbe. D. spira plana, adhærens.
It. W. Goth. 170. Dentalium testa spirali plana adhærente.
Planc. Conch. 13. n. 3. Vermiculus in littore Veneto foliis algæ adhærens.
Testa minima, magnitudine nuper ab ovo exclusæ cochleæ, cujus formam omnino gerit, at plana omnino est, et altero latere omnino fuci foliis adhæret.
This was evidently different from the Serpula planorbis of the 'Systema.'