* Umbilicate, or Perforated.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Shell conic, pale fulvous with white ribs, whorls distant.
Turbo Scalaris: testa conica, pallide fulva costis albis anfractibus distantibus.
Turbo Scalaris: testa cancellata conica: anfractibus distantibus.—Linn. Syst. Nat. 10 p. 764. n. 548.—Mus. Lud. Ulr. 658. n. 351.—Gmel. Linn. Syst. Nat. T. 1. p. 6. 3603. n. 62.
Scalaria Pretiosa: testâ conicâ, umbilicatâ inspiram laxam contortâ, pallidè fulva; costis albis; anfractibus disjunctis, lævibus: ultimo ventricoso.—Lamarck Anim. sans. vertebr. 6. p. 2. 226. 1.
Wentletrap (scalaris).—Rumpf. mus. t. 49. fig. A.—Argenville Conch. pl. 11. fig. V.—Gualt. tab. 10. fig. 2. 7.
The Wentletrap is one of those extraordinary productions of the shell tribe that has been regarded with unabated admiration among Conchologists from the days of Petiver and Rumpfius, the earliest of the more recent race of Naturalists, down to the period in which we live. And, although it does not at this time bear a price so very great as that which it bore some years ago, it is yet considered as a shell of no mean value when it is large and in fine perfection: even those of a smaller size, when in good condition, are esteemed of value, at least in some proportion to those more estimable for their perfection.
The rarity of this choice and very curious shell arises from various causes. In the Chinese seas, which it chiefly inhabits, the species is very rare; it sometimes occurs upon the coasts of Coromandel, but sparingly, and in the other seas upon the coasts of India it is believed to be still more uncommon. These shells are, moreover, so very brittle that they seldom occur perfect, and more especially the larger ones, which in almost every instance is abbreviated or imperfect at the point or apex. And, it may be also added that like Voluta Pyrum, the Sacred Chank Shell, of which an explanation was given in a former plate, the Wentletrap is one of the sacred shells of the worshippers of Brahma, and consequently when found in fine condition, is sure to obtain a considerable price among the opulent devotees of that doctrine, the prevailing worship of the many millions of inhabitants that people India, China, and other vast regions of the continent of Asia. In China, shells of this kind, of a moderate size, are valued at from four to five, or even ten dollars a piece, those are shells of about an inch and a quarter in length, and such as exceed that size are considered in proportion valuable. In England a fine specimen about the same size last mentioned would be estimated in worth at little less than five guineas. The celebrated Wentletrap of the Leverian Museum was about two inches long, but as it exhibited little freshness of colour, it produced only eleven pounds. Since that period another specimen, a trifle larger, and with the same bleached or depauperated appearance in its tints of colour, was sold at the public hammer for twenty seven pounds. This is the highest price we have seen paid for a specimen of this curious shell: we have heard of fifty guineas being given by one collector for a shell of this kind. Considerable as this price may be deemed, it appears to have been exceeded in one, if not more instances, upon the continent. Denys de Montfort, speaking, as it may be presumed, of the low countries and France, informs us, that he has seen it sell, when the height or length has exceeded two inches, at two thousand four hundred livres, or one hundred Louis. It will be observed that he is alluding to shells about the same size as that delineated in the annexed plate, the outline of which is from the Leverian specimen; the colouring amended from a smaller but more recent shell.