The Flag Volute (V. vexillum, Lam.) is a small flesh-tinted 8o The Volutes and Melon Shells shell with narrow bands of orange revolving around its whorls. Faint cloudings of the same colour often occur, and blotches of it mark the nodules on the shoulder of the body whorl. The apex is very sharp.
This very distinct and rare species is three to four inches long, and comes from the Indian Ocean.
The Waved Volute (V. undulata, Lam.) is also marked with wavy lines of rich chestnut — a flag with its stripes running longitudinally instead of spirally. It is three to four inches long, fusiform and slender, as elegant in shape as in colour and pattern.
Habitat.— Australia.
The Imperial Volute (V. imperials, Lam.) wears a crown of upturned hollow tubercles on the outer three whorls of the peaked spire. Over the shining salmon-coloured surface is a netted pattern made of zigzag chestnut lines, merging occasionally into triangular blotches of solid brown. The pattern is the same on the spire, but the colour is darker.
This shell has always been the admiration of conchologists, and from them received the names, "Chinese Emperor's Crown," and "The Crown of the Great Mogul." A cross section of a young shell shows the thick walls of the whorls to be made up of several layers of ivory-like substance, including the thick, almost translucent lining. The plaits of the columella are faint in the aperture, but they become very distinct as they wind toward the smooth, knob-like apex, which is almost filled solid with the callus. Length, 5 to 8 inches.
Habitat.—Philippine Islands.
The Magnificent Volute (V. magnifica, Lam.) is thinner than the average large shell in this genus, and its whorls are not knobbed. The spire is elevated, and ends in a rounded papilla. The outer lip flares, making a wide aperture. The creamy ground colour is banded with dark brown in a reticulated pattern. Alter nating with these dark bands are pale ones in which the same zigzags are faintly discernible. Young shells show a brighter pattern and more contrast than older ones. The lining is a reddish orange, especially bright on the columella and lip.
This is one of the largest and most distinct of the species. It is found half burying itself amongst weeds and ooze on sandy and muddy flats beyond tide mark. Length, 6 to 12 inches.
Habitat.— East Australia.
81 The Volutes and Melon Shells The Bat Volute (V. vespertilio Linn.) is the most variable species in the genus. Gradually collections have acquired speci mens forming a series of gradations between types assigned to specific rank by scientists in earlier days. Lamarck made four species of the specimens within his reach. These have been reduced to varieties.
The typical shell is short and broad-shouldered. Tubercles, sharp, flattened and with their points curving backward, rise prominently from the shoulders of the whorls. Zigzag bands of dark brown cross the whorls on a ground colour of pale choco late. The spire is more yellowish. Triangular patches of paler colour form a band below the most prominent tubercles. The aperture is lined with white enamel. The lip lining has a tawny edge. Possibly the hooked tubercles on this shell suggested to Linnmus the prehensile hooks on a bat's wing. Length, 3 to 5 inches.
habitat.— Philippines, Moluccas.
The Courtier Volute (V. aulica, Sby.) has the elegant shape of the mitres, tapering gradually to each extremity. It wears remote, flattened tubercles on the sloping shoulders of the body whorl, but knobs are barely suggested on the whorl above, and the spire is smooth. The flesh-coloured, polished surface is finely covered with longitudinal hair lines of chestnut. Clouds or flames of salmon colour revolve in bands around the shell. The bands are sometimes edged with rows of remote, dark spots.
For a long time this species was known only by a single speci men in the Duchess of Portland's famous collection, which is now in the British Museum. Then Mr. Cuming obtained some beauti ful specimens in the Sulu Archipelago. These differ from the type by being tuberculated. Though others have been collected since, the species is still rare, and highly valued. Length, 3 to 5 inches.
Habitat.— Sulu Islands.
The Handsome Volute (V. Festiva, Lam.) is the rarest of all. The whorls are longitudinally ribbed, like a harp shell. The spire is elongated above a noduled shoulder; the apex is a rounded knob. The flesh-white ground is painted with interrupted bands of orange red, the pale areas between the bands narrow and marked with short brown streaks in twos and threes. The aperture is orange.