^BMftL.^L: ■*«!/ iM^inejgiolo^lcal ^ oP4foi-\()|lbiparVf WiocU Hole, Mass. )Ih h\eWiot»\j of IfVfeeftU IBipalsUnlMoVifgoVnek' w 1874-195T6 W\*Pe op TKoma^Hatt'teoh Ment^ome^ Student, in etabHjoto^ 1897, b4>dcou\-sts190ff \W summed c&u>srcs , 19 H *kno u M - 1J -' *' u *- The first volume consists of 634 pages, containing resumes of about 25,000 pages of the Zoological Literature of 1864, with references to more than 5000 species described as new. The second volume consists of 798 pages, containing resumes of about 35,000 pages of the Zoological Literature of 1865, with references to more than 7000 species described as new. The price of a volume is 30s. All communications, papers, or memoirs should be addressed to " The Editor of the Zoological Record, care of Mr. Van Voorst, 1 Paternoster Row, London." JOHN VAN VOORST, 1 PATERNOSTER ROW. ff BRITISH CONCHOLOGY, OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE MOLLUSCA WHICH NOW INHABIT THE BRITISH ISLES AND THE SURROUNDING SEAS. VOLUME IV. MARINE SHELLS, IN CONTINUATION OF THE GASTROPODA AS PAR AS THE BULLA FAMILY. By JOHN GWYN JEFFREYS, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. LONDON: JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW MDCCCLXVU. [ The right of Tranalaion it reserved . ] PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, KED LION COUUT, FLEET STREET. Genus III. RISSO'A* Freminville. PL I. f. 1. Body rather slender : mantle furnished at the upper corner (and in some species also at the lower corner) of the mouth of the shell with a minute tentacular process: head depressed above and extended in front, where it forms a long and stout snout-like projection, which is divided at the extremity into two lobes, that serve as lips ; it is armed with a pair of jaws and a very short spinous tongue : tentacles wholly or partially setose or hairy ; tips blunt : eyes on small prominences or tubercles, one at the outer base of each tentacle : gills composed of from a dozen to twenty separate strands : foot lanceolate, narrow, double-edged, broader and more or less truncated in front, some- what contracted in the middle, and pointed behind ; sole grooved down the middle for about half its length towards the tail, whence it emits a glutinous thread by which the animal suspends itself to foreign bodies or to the surface of the water : opercular lobe large, divided into two wing-like expansions : beneath it at its hinder extremity issues a short tentacular appendage, which is in some species double or triple. Shell oblong or oval, seldom umbilicate : epidermis very slight : spire usually elongated : mouth oval or trumpet-shaped, angulated above and slightly expanded below ; its lips or mar- gins are continuous. The Rissoce are minute, but elegantly shaped : — " inest sua gratia parvis." They are spread over all the globe — although the tropi- cal seas have not been so well searched as those of the northern hemisphere for such small shells. Of the 25 species known in the British Isles, 15 inhabit the littoral and laminarian zones, and 10 the coralline and deep-sea zones. Woodward says that there are altogether 70 recent and 100 fossil species. i * Dedicated to M. Risso, the well-known naturalist of Nice. VOL. IV. B 75035 LITTORINID^E. In a valuable paper by M. Morch, " On the Homo- logy of the Buccal Parts of the Mollusca " (Ann. and Mag. N. H., August 1865), the cheek-plates or immo- veable mandibles of this and other genera are described as two lateral plates, without cutting- edges, composed of scaly or needle-shaped particles, which seem only of use to protect the inside of the mouth from being in- jured by the spinous tongue. The opercular appendage was first noticed by Bivona. It seems strange that Philippi could not detect it, and that notwithstanding he had figured seven species (including Barleeia rubra) he should have remarked, " Hse species omnes simillimis animalibus incoluntur." The pallial filament protrudes at the will of the animal from the upper or anal corner of the aperture of the shell. Hydrobia and Odostomia have similar processes. In Rissoa striatula and R. can^ cellata there are two, one on each side. These, there- fore, are certainly not organs of generation. The fila- ment is found in every individual ; and all the above- named genera are dicecious or unisexual. It may be an auxiliary tentacle. The spawn-cases are solitary and hemispherical. The ' Transactions of the Imperial Academy of Sci- ences at Vienna *■ for 1863 contain an elaborate and admirably illustrated monograph by Gustav Schwartz v. Mohrenstern of part of this difficult group ; I hope the remaining portion will soon be published. He has provisionally adopted the views of Messrs. H. and A. Adams to the extent of considering Alvania a distinct genus ; but his reason for so doing seems to have origi- nated in a misapprehension. According to the learned Austrian conchologist, Alvania is distinguished from Rissoa by having three caudal filaments instead of one. The authors of the ' Genera of recent Mollusca ' say as RISSOA. to Alvania, " Operculigerous lobe winged on each side, usually with three caudal cirrhi." Now their type of this genus (R. abyssicola) has but a single caudal fila- ment ; and Barleeia rubra (which, under the name of R. fulva, is comprised in the same genus) has none at all. Of the 16 other species of Alvania enumerated by them, the animal of one only (R. reticulata or Beanii) appears to have been known to them. In their genus Cingula, however, we find R. semistriata, which noto- riously has three caudal filaments, although the charac- ters assigned to that genus are as follows : — " Opercular lobe and caudal cirrhus indistinct or rudimentarv." This last-named genus comprises also Barleeia rubra, var. unifasciata. Under these circumstances it is well that Herr v. Mohrenstern has not absolutely decided on retaining the genus Alvania. I may here observe that the type of Risso's genus Alvania (from Leach's MS.) and 20 others out of the 23 which he described are can- cellated shells, the remaining two being fossil species and erroneously referred to the Turbo interruptus and T. parvus of Montagu. The generic characters given by Risso will apply to almost every convoluted shell with an entire mouth and horny operculum ; and at the most Alvania can only be a synonym of Rissoa. The other genera proposed by Messrs. Adams are in my opinion not more maintainable. Onoba is described as having the whorls not longitudinally ribbed, and the peristome not dilated. In the type (R. striata) both these cha- racters exist to a certain extent. The onlv species as- signed to Ceratia (viz. R. proximo) cannot be distin- guished generically from R. vitrea (placed by Messrs. Adams in Rissoa) or from R. striata. Their genus Setia is characterized as having the tentacles pilose, and the operculigerous lobe destitute of a caudal filament ; b 2 4 LITTORIXIDiE. R. pulcherrima is its solitary representative. In every species oiRissoa the tentacles are pilose ; and R. pulcher- rima has an unusually long and pointed caudal filament. My examination of the Rissoce has been on the same extensive scale as that of the Pisidia. The apology frequently offered for neglecting such tiny objects is unsatisfactory and unworthy of a naturalist — as if the Creator had bestowed more care in framing leviathan than in constructing the microscopic diatom, or as if the faculty which we enjoy of observing His varied works ought to be restricted to the contemplation of great things as being alone worthy of our exalted notions ! Fleming gave the name of Cingula to this genus, ap- parently being unacquainted with the scientific literature of the continent ; and he proposed another genus (Cy- clostrema) for R. Zetlandica. According to Philippi other species were separated by the Baron Bivona, under the generic title of Loxostoma. But such modest at- tempts at classification were far excelled by Leach, who repudiated Rissoa, and divided it into no less than eight genera, some of which contained the very same species as those described in others of these so-called genera. The species being numerous, it may be convenient to divide them on a conchological basis : — A. Cancellated ; outer lip usually strengthened by a rib, and sometimes notched within. 1. striatula ; 2. lactea ; 3. can- cellata ; 4. calathus ; 5. reticulata ; 6. cimico'ides ; 7. Jef- frey si ; 8. punctura ; 9. abyssicola. B. Ribbed lengthwise and spirally striated ; outer lip thickened and reflected. 10. Zetlandica; 11. costata. C. Mostly ribbed lengthwise, and spirally striated ; outer lip usually strengthened by a rib. 12. joarva ; 13. incon- spicua ; 14. albella •; 15. membranacea ; 16. viola cea ; 17. costulata ; 18. striata. D. Spirally striated, or smooth ; outer Up plain. 19. proxima ; RISSOA. 5 20. wired; 21. pulcherrima; 22. fulgida ; 23. soluta ; 24. semistriata ; 25. cingillus. It will be seen, however, by the following description of the species, that some of them cannot be placed strictly in one group more than in another. A. Cancellated ; outer lip usually strengthened by a rib, and sometimes notched within. 1. Rissoa stria'tula*, Montagu. Turbo striatulas, Mont. Test. Br. p. 306, t. 10. f. 5. B. striatula, F. & H. iii. p. 73, pi. lxxix. f. 7, 8. Body yellowish-white, with a blood-red mark over the head : mantle forming a small oval lappet or lobe on each side of the neck as in Trochus ; its outer edge is furnished with two thread- like and finely ciliated processes, one at each of the corners of the mouth of the shell, and which project or hang down, seemingly at the will of the animal : snout longish, narrow, cloven at the extremity: tentacles thread-shaped, somewhat flattened on the upper and lower surfaces, with blunt tips ; they are clothed with a very few short cilia : eyes on small tubercles : foot squarish in front, and pointed behind ; when extended it is apparently divided (as in many other, perhaps every, species ofliissoa) into two parts, anterior and posterior : opercular or caudal appendage single, rather long, but not projecting beyond the tail or point of the foot ; it issues from beneath the operculigerous lobe : excrement oval, dark-green. Shell conic-oval, with a turreted outline and a slightly twisted base, solid, opaque, somewhat glossy when the surface is not obscured by a mineral coating : sculpture, several laminar transverse ridges, 10 or 11 of which are on the body-whorl, and 3 only on each of the next three whorls ; those encircling the body- whorl are very unequal in size, the 3 uppermost being by far the largest and most apart one from another ; the 3 basal ridges are also widely separated, the intermediate ones being close together ; the uppermost ridge is placed at some distance from the suture ; the interstices of all the ridges are crossed by numerous incurved striae, so as to give the appearance of very fine lattice-work ; these are stronger and more conspicu- * Slightly striated. 6 LITTORINID.E. ous on the upper than under part of the shell ; lahial rib thick, sometimes double, or else having a varix on the body-whorl ; top whorls quite smooth and polished : colour that of alabaster, with a scarcely perceptible tinge of yellow and occasionally an ochreous stain : spire moderately produced and pointed : ivhorls 5-6, convex, the last composing rather more than two-thirds of the shell : suture distinct, but not deep or channelled ; the separation of the whorls is chiefly indicated by the prominent spiral ridge which surmounts each : mouth large, occupying about half the length of the spire, roundish-oval, angulated somewhat acutely above and obtusely below, and slightly ex- panded outwards ; inside plain : outer lip semicircular, forming a very narrow rim within the labial rib : inner lip broad and thick, reflected on the pillar, and united with the outer lip at the upper corner of the mouth : operculum pale horncolour, with a short lateral spire, and very delicately striated. L. 0-215. B. 0-15. Habitat : Lower part of the littoral zone in the Channel Isles, and on the coasts of Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall ; bv no means common. It has also been found at Margate (Hanley), Tenby (Lyons), Arran Isles, co. Galway (Barlee), Miltown Malbay, co. Clare (Harvey, fide Thompson), Bantry Bay (J. G. J.), Dublin Bay (Waller), off Larne, co. Antrim (Hyndman and J. G. J.), Cnmbrae, Arran, N.B. (J. Smith), Lamlash Bay (Norman) . Fossil in a bone-cavern at Mardolce in Sicily (Philippi) . North and west of France (De Ger- ville, Cailliaud, and others) ; Cadiz (M f Andrew) ; south of France (Michaud and others) ; Dalmatia (Brusina) ; Spezzia (J. G. J.) ; Naples (Scacchi, fide Philippi). This, as well as R. cancellata, adheres with some tenacity to the stones on which it is found ; and when detached it also spins a fine byssal thread, by means of which it suspends itself in the water. The carving of the shell is inimitable. One of my specimens (probably a male), although full-grown, is little more than three- quarters of a line in length, and of proportionate breadth. RISSOA. The Turbo striatulus of Linne appears to have been Parthenia varicosa of Forbes = Chemnitzia pallida, Phi- lippi. Da Costa described and figured the present species as T. carinatus ; and I would have adopted that original and expressive name, were it not for the consideration that, no subsequent author having done so, I have no wish to be singular, or to make any unnecessary change in the nomenclature. Turton called this shell T. monilis, Michaud R. cochlea, Philippi R. labiata, and Leach Per- sephona brevis. 2. R. lac'tea*, Michaud. E. laciea, Mich. Descr. esp. Kiss. p. 9, f. 11, 12; F. & H. iii. p. 76, pi. lxxix. f. 3, 4. Shell oval, compressed towards the mouth, rather thin, semitransparent and somewhat glossy when living, opaque and lustreless when dead : sculpture, slight and gently curved lon- gitudinal ribs, which are seldom continued below the periphery and are crowded near the outer lip ; there are about 20 on the last and 10 on the penultimate whorl ; these ribs are crossed by fine spiral striee, 15 of which are on the last and 9 on the penultimate whorl ; the ribs are more prominent than the striae, the points of intersection never being nodulous ; there is sometimes, but rarely, a slight labial rib ; the first two whorls are perfectly smooth : colour whitish, with a faint tinge of yellow, in dead shells milk-white : spire abruptly pointed : ivhorls 5-6, moderately convex, compressed towards the front ; the last composes nearly three-fourths of the shell, and the first two are minute : suture slight but distinct : mouth oval, produced and angulated above, spread out below, not expanded outwards ; inside plain : outer lip rather thick : inner lip broad, reflected over the pillar, and united with the outer Up at the upper corner of the mouth, where there is a considerable thickening : operculum pale horncolour, with a short spire, and not conspicuously striated. L. 0-233. B. 0-15. Habitat : Under stones at extreme low water of spring tides, and thrown upon the beach : St. Aubin's * Milk-white. 8 LITTORINID.E. Bay, Jersey (Hanley, Norman, andDodd) ; Herm (Mac- culloch, Lukis, and Barlee) ; Barricane, north Devon (Miss Jeffreys, who never was in the Channel Isles or abroad). It is our rarest Rissoa. Sicilian tertiaries (Philippi) . The only northern locality to my knowledge is Bohuslan in the south of Sweden, where Malm dredged two specimens (both dead) in different places. By his kind permission one of them, from 12 f., is now before me. Its southern range is extensive, and embraces the north and west of France (Collard des Cherres, Cailliaud, Aucapitaine, and others), Vigo, 4 f., Gijon and Faro in Algarve, and Corunna (M'Andrew), Adriatic (Heller), Dalmatia (Brusina), northern shores of the Mediterra- nean (Michaud, J. G. J., and others), Ajaccio (Requien), Naples (Scacchi), near Catania (Philippi), Algeria (M f Andrew and WeinkaufF). Turbo cancellatus (Beudant) of Lamarck. 3. B. cancella'ta*, Da Costa. Turbo canceUahis, Da Costa, Br. Conch, p. 104, pi. viii. f. 6, 9. B. crc- nidata, F. & H. iii. p. 80, pi. lxxix. f. 1, 2. Body milk-white, with a pinkish spot above the head : pallktl lappet small, as in R. striatula : patlial filaments slender and microscopically ciliated, resembling minute auxiliary tentacles, one at each corner of the mouth of the shell : snout narrow and cloven at the point, extensile : tentacles cylindrical, but somewhat compressed on the upper and under sides, finely and closely ciliated all over ; they are occasionally borne erect, or now and then upturned : eyes on small tubercles : foot squarish in front, with small angular corners, contracted in the middle, and attenuated towards the tail, which is bluntly pointed : appendage short, not projecting beyond the tail, apparently bicuspid, but really consisting of three filaments, one of which is smaller than the other two and is sometimes a mere bulb. Shell conic-oval, solid, opaque, somewhat glossy : sculpture, strong longitudinal ribs, 16 of which are on the body- whorl, * Latticed. RISSOA. 9 15 on the penultimate, 14 on the succeeding whorl, and 13 on the next, not more than half the last number being discernible on the upper whorl, when they altogether disappear ; these ribs are continued to the base, which is furnished with an an- gular projection or knob, owing to this part of the pillar being greatly thickened ; there are also equally strong spiral ribs, 6 of which are on the body- whorl, 3 or 4 on the penultimate, and 2 only on each of the succeeding three whorls ; the first two or three whorls are apparently quite smooth and glossy, but under the microscope exhibit extremely fine and numerous longitudinal wavy striae ; the two sets of ribs cross each other, leaving between them square cavities and forming at the points of intersection raised and rather sharp tubercles, imparting to the surface a- prickly aspect; labial rib broad, and traversed by the spiral ribs up to the mouth, the edge of which conse- quently becomes scalloped or indented : colour yellowish-white, with often more or less of a rufous tinge, or indistinctly marked by two reddish -brown bands, a narrow one below the suture and a broad one round the periphery ; sometimes the colour is milk-white ; the throat or inside of the mouth is frequently stained by reddish-brown : spire short and acute : whorls 6-7, convex, the last occupying two-thirds of the total length ; the first two or three whorls are disproportionately small : suture broadly excavated : mouth roundish oval, expanding outwards, finely and closely ridged lengthwise on the inside of the labial rib ; there are 12 of these ridges, besides usually a blunt tubercle on the lower part of the pillar : outer lip thin : inner lip forming a rather broad glaze on the pillar, which is imper- forate : operculum not very thin, having a somewhat lateral spire (as in Littorina), and conspicuously and closely striated in a curved direction corresponding with the line of growth. L. 0-185. B. 0-115. Yar. paupercula. Dwarfed, more regularly oval and solid, with a proportionally longer spire. L. 0-135. B. 0*005. Habitat : Rocks and stones at low water of spring- tides, and the coralline zone, in the Channel Isles and on many parts of the Cornish coast ; rather common, especially at Herm. Received from Sandwich (Mon- tagu) ; west bay of Portland, 15 f. (M f Andrew and Forbes) ; Torquay (Hanley) ; Salcombe Bay (Barlee) j B O 10 LITTORINIDjE. off Lundy Island (M f Andrew) ; Manorbeer, Pembroke- shire (J. G. J.) ; Isle of Man, " one broken specimen from deep water on the north coast " (Forbes) ; Nymph bank, 50 f. (M f Andrew) ; Bantry (Miss Hutchins, Thompson, and Barlee); Dublin Bay (Turton and Brown); Belfast Bay (Hyndman) ; off Lame, co. Antrim, 18-20 f. (J. G. J.) ; Lough Strangford, 7-20 f. (Dickie) ; Tyn- ingham sands, N.B. (Brown); Lamlash (Landsborough); Loch Fyne, and the Hebrides as far north as Stornoway (Barlee and J. G. J.). A single dead and worn speci- men of the variety was found by me at Herm ; it may belong to a distinct species or be exotic. R. cancellata is fossil in the Sussex beds (Godwin-Austen) ; Ireland (J. Smith) ; Calabria (Philippi) . Its living range is mostly southern, from Cherbourg (Becluz and Mace) and Morbihan (Tasle) to the Gulf of Gascony (D'Or- bigny pere, and J. G. J.), and Corunna (M' Andrew and H. Woodward) , throughout the Mediterranean (Michaud and others) ; Adriatic (Heller) ; Dalmatia (Brasilia) ; Mogador, 3 f. (M'Andrew); iEgean (Forbes, fide M 'An- drew) ; Madeira, 15-24 f., and Canary Isles, 12-60 f. (M f Andrew). The last-named naturalist also took some dead specimens in his Norwegian dr edgings. It is active and bold, floats like its congeners, and spins a byssal thread instantaneously on being detached from a crawling position. The incessant play of the cilia that fringe the tentacles is very striking ; it appears to be caused bv the action of a double row of muscles in each tentacle, arranged in the form of a siphon, which is perceptible through the transparency of the integument. The pallial filaments probably serve the purpose of sup- plementary tentacles to warn the animal of impending- danger. In spite of its stoutness the shell is sometimes perforated, possibly by Murex erinaceus or M. corallinus. RISSOA. 11 This is the Turbo cimex of Donovan, Montagu, and other conchologists (but not of Linne), R. crenulata of Michaud, and Persephona Hutchinsiana of Leach. The R. lactea of Michaud having been previously described by Lamarck as Turbo cancellatus (but subsequently to Da Costa's publication) , we must either call that species cancellata and give up the name lactea, retaining crenu- lata for the present species, or else adhere to the strict rule of priority. Convenience, as well as justice, makes the latter alternative more desirable. R. cancellata of Desmarets is the Linnean R. cimex, which (as Turbo calathiscus of Montagu) Mr. Thompson of Belfast seems to have mistaken for the species now described. 4. E. ca'lathus *> Forbes and Hanley. R. calathm, F. & H. iii. p. 82, pi. lxxviii. f. 3. Shell more conical and coarsely sculptured than the next species (R. reticulata) ; longitudinal striae more prominent ; penultimate whorl not quite so broad in proportion to the body- whorl, and having usually but 4 rows of spiral striae — although this last character is not constant, there being sometimes 5 and even 6 rows. Colour, size, and other particulars the same as in R. reticulata. Habitat : Guernsey and Herm ; rather common. Land's End (Hockin) ; Whitesand Bay (Mrs. Flack) ; off Penzance, 15-20 f. (M f Andrew and Forbes) ; Shell - ness, Kent (J. G. J.); off the Mizen Head, 50 f. (M' An- drew); Kilkee, co. Clare (Warren, fide Thompson); Isle of Man (Packe) ; co. Antrim (Hyndman and J. G. J.) ; Clyde district (Smith and Landsborough) ; Loch Car- ron (J. G. J.) ; Hebrides (Barlee). Coralline Crag at Sutton (S. Wood, as R. abyssicola). Drontheim, 5-40 f., and Vigo (M< Andrew) ; Morbihan (Taste) ; Gulf of * A wicker basket. 12 LITTORINID.E. Lyons (Martin) ; Nice (Verany) ; Spezzia (J. Gr. J.) ; Canaries (M f Andrew in mus. Brit.). This is a very doubtful species ; and concholo gists must exercise their own discretion as to admitting it. My impression is that it constitutes only a variety of R. reti- culata. The authors of the ' British Mollusca' say that the two " may usually be distinguished with readiness by the smaller size of their latticework. Every degree of reticulation, from coarse to fine, may be seen by com- paring a sufficient number of specimens. 5. R. reticulata *, Montagu. Turbo reticulatus, Mont, Test. Br. p. 322, t. 21. f. 1. B. Beanii, F. & H. iii. p. 84, pi. lxxix. f. 5, 6. Body yellowish-white : mantle furnished with a single fila- mental process : snout " near its termination at the upper sur- face appears to have attached to it two very small similar shields, one on each side, independent of the terminal minute subcircular flat lobes : " tentacles compressed, slender, rather long, " not setose " [?] : eyes on short light-yellow or orange pedicles: foot " subrotund, scarcely auricled, but grooved in front sufficiently to form a shallow labium, slightly constricted anteriorly at one- third the length, gently tapering to a rather obtuse lanceolate but not emarginate termination : " opercular lobe plain, moderately expanded : appendage consisting of three blunt, cylindrical, short cirri : gill composed of 12-15 single, pale-yellow, short strands, which are visible when the neck is much protruded. (Clark.) Shell oblong, solid, nearly opaque, more or less glossy : sculpture, numerous somewhat obscure and slightly curved lon- gitudinal ribs, seldom extending to the base, and crossed by equally numerous but much more distinct and thread-like spiral ribs, which cover the surface of the last 4 whorls ; the points of intersection are sometimes nodulous, but rarely on the lower part of the body-whorl ; there are 6 or 7 rows of spiral striae on the penultimate whorl ; labial rib thick and traversed by the spiral striae, occasionally forming a separate varix ; top whorls smooth and glossy, showing under the microscope faint * Reticulated. RISSOA. 13 traces of punctures : colour pale yellowish-brown, with now and then two bands of a tawny hue, one immediately under the suture and the other below the periphery ; pillar-lip often stained with reddish-brown : spire acute : ivhorls 6-7, rather convex, and gradually enlarging, the last occupying about three- fifths of the spire ; the penultimate is nearly as broad as the last whorl: suture slight, narrowly excavated : mouth roundish- oval, somewhat expanded outwards, finely and closely furrowed on the inside of the labial rib ; the furrows correspond with the spiral strise : outer lip thin and very narrow, as in all the other species of this section : inner lip slight and reflected on the pillar, behind which there is a narrow groove, but never a decided umbilical chink : operculum filmy, with a short spire, and finely striated in the line of growth. L. 0*15. B. 0-075. Habitat : Nearly every part of our coasts, from the Land's End to Lerwick, in 7-50 f. ; not uncommon. Fossil in the south of Italy and in Sicily (Philippi — assuming this to be his R. textilis) . R. reticulata of S. Wood, from the Coralline Crag, more resembles R. cala- thus, and mav be an intermediate variety. Loven, Sars, M f Andrew, Danielssen, and Malm have recorded the present species as Scandinavian, from Molde in Finmark to Bohuslan in the south of Sweden, the two last-named authors giving respectively 40-60 and 20-30 f. North coast of Holland, 17f. (Malm) ; Vigo (M'Andrew); Gulf of Lyons (Martin); TD&lm&tisL (Brusmsi } 2LS Alvaiiia Beani) ; Cannes (Mace); Spezzia (the Marquis Doria and J.G. J.); Algeria (Weinkauff) ; and iEgean 30-185 f. (Forbes). The sculpture of some specimens is rather stronger than that of others. Mediterranean specimens are fre- quently marked by highly coloured bands. This shell is more oblong than R. cimico'ides, and not so conical (partly in consequence of the penultimate whorl being prominent in R. reticulata) , and the cancellation is finer and closer. " The animal is active, and freely shows its points'" (Clark). 14 LITTORINID^. It is the R. Beanii of Hanley. R. teoctilis of Philippi is probably the immature state. Adams's Turbo reticu- latus (" T. quatuor anfractibus reticularis, apertura sub- rotunda. Obs. color albus.") appears to have been the young of R. striata ; but that of Montagu is unquestion- ably the one now under consideration. R. reticulata of Philippi, a Sicilian fossil, is very different. Turton, in his ' Conchological Dictionary/ interchanged the characters of the present species and R. punctura, and reversed the admeasurements. 6. R. cimicoi'des *, Forbes. R. cimicoides, Forb. in Rep. Br. Assoc, for 1843, p. 189. R. sculpta, F. & H. iii. p. 88, pi. lxxx. f. 5, 6. Body milk-white and almost transparent : snout short, bifid, of a brownish hue : tentacles slender, with blunt tips : eyes small : foot broad, squarish in front, and pointed behind. Shell conic-oval, solid, opaque, somewhat glossy : sculpture, several stout and slightly curved longitudinal ribs, not extending to the base, and crossed by more regular and thread-like spiral striae or riblets, which cover the surface of the last four whorls ; small tubercles or nodules are formed at the points of inter- section ; there are 4 rows of spiral striae on the penultimate whorl ; labial rib thick (sometimes double), traversed by the spiral striae, and marked with minute and numerous hues of growth; top whorls encircled with close- set and punctured striae : colour pale yellowish-white, more or less deeply tinged with reddish-brown, and having usually an imperfect streak of the latter colour close to the labial rib on the outside, which, terminates at the periphery in a broad mark, covering three of the spiral striae ; these markings appear to result from two obscure bands, one below the suture and the other round the base ; apex light orange : spire sharp-pointed : whorls 6-7, sloping upwards, compressed, somewhat gradually enlarging, the last occupying about three-fifths of the spire : suture slight, but distinctly channelled : mouth more round than oval, ex- panding a little outwards, finely notched or furrowed on the inside of the labial rib ; these notches or furrows are not caused * Resembling R. cimex. RISSOA. 15 by the impress of the spiral striae, although they correspond in number and position : outer lip thin : inner lip slight, reflected on the pillar ; there is no umbilical chink : operculum filmy, with a short spire. L. 015. B. 0-085. Var. minima. Dwarf; spire very short. Habitat : Coralline zone, Guernsey (J. G. J.); Hel- ford (Hockin) ; Exmouth (coll. Clark) ; Coquet and Berwick Bay (Mennell); Cork Harbour (Wright); west coast of Ireland (Hoskyns); Larne, co. Antrim (J.G.J.) ; Skye and Hebrides (M f Andrew and others) ; Aberdeen- shire coast (Dawson); Shetland (Barlee and J. G. J.). The variety was found at Plymouth by Mr. Barlee. R. cimico'ides inhabits the iEgean, 2-69 f. (Forbes) ; Dal- matia (Brusina) ; Gulf of Lyons (Martin) ; Bohuslan, 50-80 f. (Martin) ; Bergen (Lilljeborg) ; upper Norway (M ' Andrew) ; and Greenland (coll. M f Andrew). I have no doubt that this is the R. cimico'ides of Forbes, having compared specimens so named by him in the British Museum and Mr. M' Andrew's collection with the original description of that species, as well as with the Scotch specimens from which the description and figures of R. sculpta in the ' British Mollusca ' were taken. The R. sculpta of Philippi appears to have a more regularly oval shape, the larger whorls are cross-barred ("cla- thrati 9> ) , and the inside of the mouth is smooth. This agrees with R. calatkus of Forbes and Hanley, except in the latter having the throat crenated. Loven regarded R. abyssicola as Philippics shell. Pasithea nigra of Tot- ten, from Rhode Island, is allied to the present species. 7. R. Jeffrey'si "*, Waller. B. Jeffrey^, Wall, in Ann. & Mag. N. H. s. 3. xiy. p. 136. Shell conic-oval, with a somewhat turreted outline, mode- * So named out of compliment to the author ot" the present work. 16 LITTORINlDiE. rately solid, semitransparent and rather glossy : sculpture, numerous fine longitudinal striae, which are crossed by stronger, fewer, and rib-like transverse striae, forming by their inter- section an open network ; the longitudinal striae are gently curved, and they do not reach the base, although there are sometimes traces of them below the periphery ; the labial rib is strong but not thick, and traversed by the spiral striae only ; of these striae 3 or 4 are more conspicuous than the rest on the body-whorl ; examined microscopically the whole surface is covered with extremely close-set spiral lines ; and even by the aid of a Cocldington the top whorls may be seen to have a few spiral rows of salient and reentering angles, which last prefigure the cancellated structure of the adult shell : colour clear-white : spire ending in a blunt and almost truncated point : whorls 5, convex, gradually enlarging, the last exceeding all the others put together in the ratio of nearly 5 to 3 when viewed with the mouth upwards, but when placed with the mouth down- wards these proportions are reversed ; the apex is compressed : suture very deep and channelled : mouth more round than oval, scarcely expanding outwards : outer lip thin, incurved above : inner Up slightly reflected, and having behind it a more or less distinct umbilical chink. L. 01. B. 0*065. Habitat : Sandy ground off Unst (the most northern of the British Isles), at distances of about 8 and 30 miles from the land, in 70-85 f. ; rare. Norway (Lill- jeborg and Malm ; the locality mentioned to me by the latter is Eggersbank, and the depth 150 f.) ; North America (M 'Andrew, by whom it was received from a correspondent) . The dried remains of the animal exhibit an orange tint in the region of the liver. Although of the same size as R. punctura, this is of a somewhat turreted shape, clear-white, and nearly transparent, the reticulation is much less crowded (resembling open lacework), the spiral striae in the middle are more prominent, the suture deeper, whorls more gradually increasing, and the apex is blunt and marked with a Vandyke pattern instead of having rows of punctures. The present case exemplifies RISSOA. 17 what I said in the Introduction to this work (vol. i. p. xlvii) , viz. that the nncleus of the shell often furnishes the conchologist with an important character for dis- criminating species. This part, in fact, represents the earliest stage of growth, before external conditions have had any power in influencing or modifying the structure. 8. R. punctu'ra*, Montagu. Turbo punctura, Mont. Test. Br. p. 320, t. 12. f. 5. R. punctura, F. & H. iii. p. 89, pi. lxxx. f. 8, 9. Body yellowish, streaked with purple (marked with a small red dot under the neck near the eyes, Clark) : mantle furnished at each upper corner of the aperture of the shell with a short cylindrical process : tentacles thread- shaped, rather short, in- distinctly ringed, scalloped at the edges, and sparsely but finely setose : eyes slightly raised : foot squarish in front, and bluntly pointed behind : (opercular lobe very pale muddy-red- dish-brown, and having on each side, close to the junction of the foot with the rest of the body, an irregular, rather large, dusky or lead- coloured stripe, Clark) : appendage simple and short. Shell conic-oval (in some specimens more oblong), rather solid, nearly opaque, and somewhat glossy : sculpture, nume- rous fine longitudinal and spiral ribs or striae, which by their decussation form minute squares, and are muricated at the points . of intersection ; the longitudinal ones are slightly curved and do not reach to the base ; the labial rib is more or less thick, according to age, and it occasionally leaves one or two varicose excrescences on the body- whorl ; sometimes it is placed close to the mouth, and at other times at a short distance from it ; the spiral ribs or striae are thread-like and usually are more conspicuous than the others ; the uppermost whorls exhibit under the microscope a few rows of punctures : colour dirty white, often tinged with yellow or reddish-brown, and now and then having the last whorl partially spotted or double- banded with the latter hue ; there is frequently also a blotch of reddish-brown outside the mouth, and a similar stain on the pillar-lip : spire pointed, usually rather elongated, rarely very short : whorls 6, convex, the last occupying about three-fifths * From its punctured surface ; literally, a pricking. 18 LITTORlNID^l. of the spire, the first minute and somewhat prominent : suture deep : mouth roundish- oval, scarcely expanding outwards : outer lip thin, not much incurved above : inner lip reflected on the pillar and at the base, behind which is a slight depression or chink : operculum filmy, with a short spire, and delicately striated. L. 0-1. B. 0-065. Yar. diversa. Longitudinal ribs finer and more prominent, — a character which gives this variety a different aspect. Habitat : Widely distributed, in the lower part of the laminarian zone and throughout the coralline zone, from Guernsey to Unst, at a depth of from 1-95 f. The variety is from Skye and Shetland. R. punctura occurs in upper tertiary deposits in Sussex (Godwin- Austen) , Ayrshire (Landsborough, fide Thompson) , and at Udde- valla (Malm), and in the post-glacial beds of Norway at various heights from the present level of the sea to 100 feet above it (Sars). Wood includes it (although with a doubt as to the identity of the species) in his 1 Crag Mollusca/ from the Coralline formation at Sutton; but his description shows that the outer lip is notched within, a character which the recent shell does not pos- sess. It inhabits Bohuslan, according to Loven, who called it R. textilis of Philippi ; Malm dredged it in the same district in 10-60 f., Danielssen at Christiansund- in 40-60 f., M f Andrew in Nordland, and Sars at Tromso, Ox fjord, and elsewhere in Norway in 10-50 f. ; Tasle found it in Brittany < Martin has taken it in the Gulf of Lyons, Mace at Antibes, Verany at Nice, Brusina in Dalmatia, and M 'Andrew off Orotava, Canary Isles. Of this species, again, we have two sizes, a large and small one. It appears to be the Turbo retiformis of Montagu (from Walker's doubtful description and figure), R.puncturata of Macgillivray, R. approxima of Brown, and Turritella Dorvilleana of Leach. RISSOA. 19 9. R. abyssi'cola*, Forbes. B. abyssicola, F. & H. iii. p. 86, pi. lxxviii. f. 1. 2, and (animal) pi. JJ. f. 3. Body whitish, with a faint tinge of yellow or saffron on the front, and microscopically speckled with flake-white: mantle rather thick- edged; pallial processes one on each side, short and not protruded beyond the mouth of the shell ; snout small and narrow, deeply cloven, carried somewhat in advance of the foot: tentacles thread-shaped, flattened, clothed with minute and short but not numerous cilia : eyes large and black, on bulbs at the lower base of the tentacles : foot squarish in front, with short angular corners, narrowing behind to a rounded and slightly bilobed tail : appendage single, placed far behind the tail, and issuing from the opercular lobe. Shell oval, with a slight tendency to oblong and a somewhat oblique outline, rather solid, semitransparent and glossy : sculpture, numerous slight longitudinal ribs on the last three or four whorls, but not extending to the base ; they are flex- uous on the body-whorl and curved on the others ; the labial rib is strong, and placed close to the mouth ; the whole surface is covered with close-set and fine, apparently (but not really) undulating spiral stride, which are as prominent although not so large as the ribs, and by their intersection give a some- what muricated appearance ; these striae cross the labial rib, as in the preceding species, and reach to the outer lip ; the in- terstices of the striae on the base show, under a high magnifying power, indistinct traces of longitudinal ribs; the uppermost whorls are microscopically reticulated : colour clear-white, with occasionally a blotch of reddish-brown behind the labial rib : spire short and abrupt : whorls 5, somewhat compressed but rounded, the last occupying about two-thirds of the spire, and the first minute and flattened : suture deepish, and some- times slightly channelled : mouth roundish-oval, obliquely ex- panding outwards: outer lip narrow, thin, and sinuous, in- curved above : inner lip reflected on the pillar and at the base, united with the outer hp, but not forming a distinct peristome : operculum filmy, few-whorled, with a small excentric spire, and finely striated in the line of growth ; through it may be seen the opercular lobe, of a yellow colour. L. 0*085. B. 0-05. Habitat : Mud in 50-70 f. , Loch Fyne (where M'An- * Inhabiting deep water. 20 LITTORINID.E. drew and Forbes discovered it), Skye and Hebrides (Barlee and J. G. J.), Shetland (Forbes and Barlee); and Mr.M'Andrew has dredged it also 15 miles south-west of Mizen Head, co. Cork. Norway (M f Andrew) ; Bohuslan (Loven, as R. sculpt a of Philippi) ; off Vigo Bay and Malaga (M "Andrew) ; Gulf of Lyons (Martin, as R. scabra of Philippi) ; 40 miles off Malta in 350 f. (Spratt) . It is a local and somewhat rare species. It floats like its congeners, and suspends itself in the water by a single byssal thread. Mediterranean spe- cimens are smaller than ours, and have rather stronger sculpture. Two different sizes occur, as is also probably the case with every other species of Rissoa. One of my specimens shows in the middle of the last whorl a dis- tinct varix, caused apparently by a new growth having taken place after the shell had arrived at maturity. B. Ribbed lengthwise, and spirally striated ; outer lip thickened and reflected. 10. R. Zetlan'dica*, Montagu. Turbo Zetlandidus, Mont, in Tr. Linn. Soc. xi. p. 194, t. xiii. f. 3. E. Zet- landica, F. & H. iii. p. 78, pi. lxxx. f. 1, 2. Shell between oval and oblong, turreted or scalariform, solid, nearly opaque, glossy when living or fresh : sculpture, fine and rather sharp longitudinal ribs, of which there are 16 on the last whorl, 15 on the penultimate, 14 tm the next, and 13 on the succeeding whorl, where they usually disappear ; the ribs on the body-whorl do not extend quite to the base, but are cut off by a strong keel or ridge which winds spirally round that part from the upper corner of the mouth ; between this keel and the mouth is a deep groove or depression, which partly arises from the prominence of the keel, and is indistinctly ribbed across ; there is also a slighter and incomplete ridge (sometimes two) near the mouth, between the basal keel and the inner lip ; the labial rib is exceedingly thick and pro- * Inhabiting the Shetland seas. RISSOA. 21 minent ; its edge on the side of the mouth is furrowed or fur- nished with a double ridge, the inside one of which forms the outer lip ; the last four whorls are covered with spiral ridges equal in size and prominence to the longitudinal ribs, and in- tersecting them at a right angle, so as to produce a series of square excavations ; the points of intersection are muricated or spiky ; the last whorl has 4 of these ridges (besides that at the base), each of the next two whorls has 3, and the suc- ceeding whorl 2, the uppermost whorls being spirally and de- licately striated ; the ridges extend to the mouth : colour clear- white, sometimes golden -yellow, especially the basal ridge : spire rather short, abruptly pointed : ivhorls 6-7, convex, the last occupying three-fifths of the spire, the first minute and rounded : suture very deep and channelled : mouth roundish- oval, considerably expanding outwards : outer and inner lips forming a continuous and slightlv elevated rim. L. 0*125. B. 0-075. Habitat : Sparingly found in the coralline and deep- sea zones, Guernsey (Barlee and others), Porth Curnow Cove, Cornwall (Miss Lavars), Hayle (Hockin), co. An- trim (Hyndman and J. G. J.), Lamlash, Bute (Lands- borough), Skye and Hebrides (J. G. J.), St. Fergus bay, Peterhead (Bingham, fide Brown) , Aberdeenshire (Daw- son), Caithness (Gordon), Orkneys (Thomas), Shetland (Fleming and others), at depths ranging from 18-70 f. Fossil in the Coralline Crag at Sutton (Wood), and in the miocene formation near Vienna (Homes) . Living on the coast of South Sweden, in 12-75 f. (Loven and Malm) , Cherbourg (Recluz), off Vigo Bay (M f Andrew), Antibes (Mace), Nice (Verany), and Naples (Philippi). With respect both to this and the next little shell, we may well say with Cicero, " Quid potest esse aspectu pulchrius ?" The synonyms are R. cyclostornata of Recluz, R. ob- tusa of Brown, R. scalariformis of Metcalfe (Thorpe's 'British Marine Conchology } ) , and R. clathrata of Philippi. 22 LITTORINID.E. 11. R. costa'ta^ Adams. Turbo costatus, Ad. in Tr. Linn. Soc. iii. p. 65, t. 13. f. 13, 14. JR. costata, F. & H. iii. p. 92, pi. lxxviii. f. 6, 7. Body clear-white : snout long, cloven vertically at the ex- tremity, and exposing the buccal disk, which is pale-red : ten- tacles slender, flattened, apparently not setose : eyes large : foot long, rounded in front, where it has a snow-white mark like the letter V, behind which it is constricted at the sides and divided across, thence somewhat expanding, and tapering to a blunt point behind ; the lower lip or edge of the foot in front extends much beyond the upper lip : opercular lobe dilated into rounded lateral wings : appendage single, distinct. Shell oblong and slender, obliquely twisted, solid, nearly opaque, glossy when inhabiting clean ground, but usually lus- treless : sculpture, ridge-like, sharp, high-shouldered, and flex- uous longitudinal ribs, of which there are 9 on the last whorl, 10 on the penultimate, 11 on the next, and 12 on the suc- ceeding whorl, where they mostly disappear ; the ribs on the body- whorl do not extend quite to the base, being cut off by a strong (sometimes double) keel or ridge which winds spirally round that part ; between this keel and the mouth is a deep groove or depression caused by the prominence of the keel ; the labial rib is thicker than any of the rest, and its inside edge is flattened and finely notched ; the last four or five whorls are covered with numerous delicate spiral stria3, which cross the ribs ; the top whorls are quite smooth : colour clear- white, with a slight golden tinge : spire long and pointed : whorls 6, compressed, the last occupying three-fifths of the spire, and the first being minute and rounded : suture deep : mouth roundish- oval, expanding outwards : outer and inner lips sinuated, continuous, and forming a complete and slightly elevated rim round the mouth : operculum ear-shaped, thin, yellowish-horncolour, with a small excentric spire, and finely striated. L. 0-125. B. 0-06. Habitat : Coralline and lower part of the laminarian zones j more generally distributed in the south than in the north. Dr. Gordon and Mr. Dawson find it on the coast of Aberdeenshire ; I have dredged it in the He- * Ribbed. RISSOA. 23 brides -, and Mr. Barlee sent me specimens from Shet- land. It is rather common in the Channel Isles, and occurs there at the base of seaweeds on the recess of high springtides. Fossil in Sussex (Godwin- Austen) , Largs in Ayrshire (Landsborough) , Palermo and Ta- rento (Philippi) . Its northern limits comprise Norway, Sweden, and Holland; and southwards it ranges along the shores of the North Atlantic as far as the Canaries (M f Andrew), and of the Mediterranean on both sides : the depths given by different observers vary from 4-70 f. Mr. Clark remarked the rapidity and freedom of its movements. In showing that it is a true Rissoa, he said " it is a very simple creature." This, of course, he meant in a zoological and not psychological sense. Spe- cimens from Teneriffe and Spezzia are uncommonly small. It is the Turbo lacteus of Donovan — in index, " Turbo parvus (lacteus)" — T. crassus of Adams's work on the Microscope, T. plicatus of Miihlfeld, R. exigua of Michaud, and R. carinata of Philippi. R. costata of Desmarets is the R. variabilis of Miihlfeld, and very different from the present species. C. Mostly ribbed lengthwise and spirally striated ; outer lip usually strengthened by a rib. 12. R. parva*, Da Costa. Turbo parvus, Da Costa, Br. Conch, p. 104. E.parva, F. &H. iii. p. 98, pi. lxxvi. f. 2, 6, lxxvii. f. 6, 7, and lxxxii. f. 1-^4. Body pale-yellowish-white, with a purplish blotch in the middle, and sometimes more or less tinged in other parts with the latter colour : pallial filament occasionally protruded : snout narrow and deeply cloven : tentacles whitish, extensile, some- what flattened, finely scalloped at the edges, and covered with minute cilia, which are not easily perceptible unless by using * Little. 24 LITT0RINIDJ5. a strong magnifying power : eyes on short stalks, occasionally nearly sessile : foot squarish or slightly rounded in front, con- tracted in the middle, where it is apparently divided across into two unequal portions (the front being about half the size of the other portion) ; it tapers behind to a blunt point ; sole speckled with frosted white, and finely slit from the centre down to the tail : opercular lobe large, dark-purple : appendage cylindrical, slender, rather long, and whitish, placed over the tail or hinder part of the foot, and now and then projecting beyond it ; it is microscopically ciliated, and resembles a small auxiliary tentacle. Shell conic-oval, rather solid, nearly opaque, somewhat glossy: sculpture, strong and slightly curved ribs, like but- tresses, of which there are 8 on the body -whorl, and 12 on the penultimate and next whorl (the succeeding whorls having no ribs) ; the ribs do not extend to the base ; their interstices are frequently cancellated, and their termination on the lower part of the last whorl defined by more or less distinct spiral striae, arising from the intensity or concentration of micro- scopical lines which cover the whole surface in that direction ; the labial rib is thick and white, placed at a short distance behind the outer lip : colour mostly pale yellowish-white, some- times brown or chocolate, obscurely marked occasionally with rays between some of the ribs, and with a band round the base, always having a falciform streak from the suture behind the labial rib towards the middle of the outer lip ; the rays, band, and streak are chestnut-brown ; sometimes the ribs are white, the tip is pinkish, and the mouth is edged with chest- nut-brown : spire short, bluntly pointed : whorls 6-7, convex, the last occupying nearly two -thirds of the spire : suture rather slight, but distinct: mouth roundish- oval, somewhat expanded : outer lip thin, contracted and incurved above: inner lip reflected on the pillar and at the base, where there is no appearance of an umbilical crevice : operculum thin, whitish, with a small excentric spire, and delicately striated. L. 0-165. B. 0-1. Var. 1. interrupta. Smaller, slenderer, thinner, semitranspa- rent, and ribless, with much less convex whorls, usually marked with longitudinal rays of chestnut-colour, which are curved on the body-whorl, or divided into two rows, so as to make the mid- dle appear girdled with a whitish band ; occasionally these rays become confluent and form dark bands ; labial rib slighter ; the spiral striae are sometimes distinct, although irregular. Turbo interruptus, Adams in Tr. Linn. Soc. v. p. 3, t. i. f. 16, 17. RISSOA. 25 Yar. 2. eoc&is. Dwarf, very slender, thin and smooth, tawny, without any conspicuous markings ; labial rib wanting or ru- dimentary. Habitat : Swarming on seaweeds and Zostera at low- water mark and throughout the laminarian zone. Ac- cording to Alder a variety has been taken among coral- lines from 20 f. The typical form is more common in the south, and the variety interrupt a in the north ; both live together, as well as every conceivable gradation as regards shape, size, solidity, sculpture, and colour. Some are full-ribbed, some half- ribbed, and some have only the traces of ribs on one or other of the larger whorls; but the top whorls are invariably smooth. The 2nd variety was found by me in Lerwick Sound. Sars has recorded the typical form as fossil in the post- glacial beds of Norway, at heights between 40 and 200 feet ; and the variety mterrupta has occurred in upper tertiary deposits in Ireland (Brown) , Fort William (J. G. J.), Dalmuir and Clyde beds (Crosskey and others), Uddevalla (J. G. J.), Christiania district, in the newer or post-glacial strata, at 100 feet (Sars), Nice (Risso) . The foreign distribution of this species and its principal variety comprises the coasts of Upper and Lower Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Dalmatia, Greece, Algeria, and the Canarv Isles, from the shore to 40 f. In the ( Zoolo- gical Record ' for 1864, von Martens questions the R. ob- scvra of Philippi (which is the typical form of this species) being Mediterranean, because he had not found it there. It is not uncommon at Spezzia. Lying on a rock by the brink of a seaweed- covered pool left by the receding tide, it is no less pleasant than curious to watch this active little creature gro through its different exercises — creeping, floating, and spinning. vol. iv. c 26 LITTORINID^. It has evidently no fear of man or fish, being fortunately unconscious that the conchologist and the blenny are its natural enemies. Its heart, however, beats fast in confinement, giving about 60 pulsations per minute. Clark informs us that " the branchial plume consists of 15-18 minute vessels attached under and to the mantle and back of the neck ; " and according to Mr. Alder the teeth are arranged in 40 or 50 rows. The spawn-capsules are semicircular, yellowish-brown, and sometimes depo- sited on the shells of other individuals. Specimens from the Hebrides and Shetland are much larger than usual, but of a paler hue. The one noticed and figured in the 1 British Mollusca ' as R. Sarsii is an extraordinarilv fine example of the variety interrupta, and not LoveVs species of that name ; it is a quarter of an inch long. Mediterranean specimens are very inferior in size to those of our coasts. Mr. Williams Hockin has noticed that now and then the ribs are slightly furrowed down the middle. This species may always be known from any of its allies by a character which Forbes and Hanley pointed out, viz. the falciform streak outside the mouth. To give all the old synonyms (including those of Adams) would be unnecessary. The modern ones are Cingula alba, Fleming, R.pulchella, Forbes, R. tristriata, Macgillivray, R. fuscata and R. discrepans, Brown, R. obscura and R. simplex, Philippi, R. Matoniana, Recluz, Sabanaea paucicostata and Persephona Scotica, Leach, and R. cerasina, Brusina. Perhaps R. lineolata and R. marginata of Michaud may be added to the list. 13. B. inconspi'cua*, Alder. B. inconspicua, Aid. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. xiii. p. 32.3, pi. viii. f. 6, 7 : F. & H. iii. p. 113, pi. Ixxvi. f. 7, 8, and lxxxii. f. 5, 6. Body white, with blotches of yellow ; it is also marked length - * Not remarkable. RISSOA. 27 wise with two lines of dark-purple or black, the upper one being on the side of the back, and the lower bordering the foot: pallial JUament pendent: snout short, wedge-like, and bilobed, tinged with muddy yellow or orange : tentacles very long and slender, hairy : eyes black, on minute yellow prominences : foot narrow and extensile, slightly labiated in front, bluntly pointed behind; sole depressed in the centre, from which a line runs to the tail : opercular lobe expanded beyond each side of the foot, and margined with deep-purple or black, forming with the lines on the upper surface a dark blotch : appendage very long and distinct, projecting above the tail. (Alder and Clark.) ' Shell conic-oval, moderately solid, semitransparent, highly glossy, and sometimes having a prismatic lustre : sculpture, usually numerous fine stria-like and curved longitudinal ribs on all except the topmost whorls ; these ribs are unequally dis- tributed, and occasionally are fewer and stronger on the body- whorl; labial rib thick and white in adult specimens, now and then forming a varix in the middle of the last whorl ; the surface is also more or less distinctly impressed by delicate spiral striae, especially about the periphery ; the uppermost whorls are quite smooth : colour pale yellowish -white or whitish, rarely milk-white, sometimes variegated by obscure spots or short streaks of reddish-brown ; tip of the spire pink : spire mostly short and acute : ivhorls 6—7, somewhat convex, but not tumid ; the last occupies about three-fifths of the spire : suture well defined, although not deep : mouth roundish-oval : outer lip thin, contracted at the upper corner : inner lip thick- ened and slightly reflected at the base, where there is a small umbilical crevice : operculum resembling that of the next species, except that this is fawncolour. L. O085. B. 0*05. Yar. 1. ventrosa. Thinner, with the whorls more swollen, but having the peculiar sculpture and other characters of this species. Yar. 2. variegata. Much smaller, more conical, with an an- gular periphery, smooth or having a few ribs only, with flatter whorls and distinct broad tawny longitudinal streaks or rays ; there is no umbilical cleft. R. variegata, v. Mohrenstern, Pass. p. 28, t. ii. f. 15. Monstr. Slightly scalariform, the last whorl being partly detached from the preceding one, c2 28 LITTORINID.E. Habitat : Coralline zone everywhere ; especially com- mon in trawl- refuse at Plymouth. The 1st variety was dredged by Mr. Barlee at Exmouth and in the Hebrides, and by myself in the estuarine river Roach in Essex ; the 2nd, although widely distributed, seems more to frequent the Dorset coast ; and the monstrosity is from the west of Scotland (Barlee) and Aberdeenshire (Daw- son) . Mr. Robertson has found this species in a post- tertiary deposit at Crinan ; the late Dr. Woodward enu- merated it as a fossil of the Norwich Crag ; and Profes- sor Sars records it from a post-glacial bed in Norway, at a height of 50 feet. It inhabits the Norwegian coast as far north as Oxfjord in the laminarian zone (Sars), Christianiafiord (J. G. J.), the south of Sweden (Malm), the Cattegat (mus. Copenhagen), north of France (Mace, Cailliaud, and Tasle), Gulf of Lyons (Martin, fide Petit), Dalmatia (Brusina), Spezzia (J. G. J.), Corsica (Susini), and Algeria (Weinkauff ) . A species very closely allied to this, if not a dwarf or southern variety of it, was obtained by Mr. M'Andrew off Teneriffe. This may have been the Turbo albus of Adams ( T. albulus of Maton and Rackett, not of Fabricius), R. B allies of Thompson, and R. maculaia of Brown j but the specific name inconspicua is in general use, and must be retained. I regard the 2nd variety as a stunted form. If I had contented myself with examining a few speci- mens only, I should probably have arrived at the same conclusion that Herr v. Mohrenstern did, and made this variety a separate species j but the comparison on an extensive scale of both forms and of intermediate specimens has convinced me that such a distinction can- not be maintained. The shell described — or rather sha- dowed forth — by Adams as Helix variegata may not even have belonged to the present genus. All the species RISSOA. 29 of Rissoa which can be safely identified with his descrip- tions or figures were placed by him in the genus Turbo. 14. R. albel'la"*, Loven. E. crfbeUa, Lov. Ind. Moll. Scand. p. 25. R. inconspicua, var. tenuis, F. & H. iii. p. 115, pi. lxxxiii. f. 7, 8. Body yellowish- white, with a purplish blotch in the middle : pallial process single, issuing from the upper angle of the mouth of the shell : snout rather short, deeply cloven lengthwise, not extending as far as the foot : tentacles cylindrical, with blunt tips, usually spotted with yellow or opaque-white, and finely setose : eyes on very small tubercles : foot truncated (occasion- ally somewhat bilobed) in front, constricted near the middle, and pointed behind ; sole slightly grooved in the centre of the posterior half: appendage single, leaf- like, flat and large. Shell conic-oval, thin, semitransparent, and glossy ; sculp- ture, usually a few minute slight spiral striae, but sometimes also rather sharp and curved longitudinal ribs, of which there are from 12 to 15 on the penultimate whorl ; these ribs never cover the uppermost whorls, nor extend to the mouth, and now and then they appear on the middle whorls only ; between the labial rib (which rarely occurs on smooth specimens) and the outer lip there is a greater or less space left, so as sometimes to give this rib the aspect of a varix : colour yellowish-white of different shades, often variegated by longitudinal reddish- brown or tawny streaks, which are straight and rather nume- rous on the upper whorls, and more or less flexuous on the body-whorl ; the base is occasionally marked with a broad but indistinct tawny band ; some specimens are of a bright bronze hue : spire varying in length, sharp-pointed : whorls 6-7, tu- mid, gradually increasing in size ; the last occupies about three-fifths of the spire : suture remarkably deep : mouth oval or roundish-oval, not expanding: outer Up very thin, contracted and incurved at the upper corner: inner lip somewhat thickened, and reflected, especially over the base, where a small umbilical crevice is formed : operculum slightly concave, horncolour, with a short spire, and rather strongly striated. L. 0-15. B. 0-075. Var. Sarsii. Thinner, smooth, and seldom having the labial rib. R. Sarsii, Lov. I. c. p. 15. * For albula. whitish. 30 LITTORINID^E. Monstr. Body-whorl spirally and finely but irregularly ridged, the outer lip now and then expanded or contracted above, or a notch formed close to the suture. Habitat : Bantry Bay at low water (Barlee) . The variety is tolerably common on Zoster a at Southampton, and abundant among seaweeds in the west of Scotland and east of Shetland, associated with R. parva var. in- terrupta. The monstrosity is sometimes met with in the latter district. The typical form inhabits Bohuslan (Loven), Kiel Bay (Meyer and Mobius) and Christiania- fiord (J. G. J.) ; the variety was found by Professor Sars at Bergen. My largest specimens are those from Southampton and Loch Carron, some of them measuring 2 lines in length. A dwarf form, which is much less numerous, may be the male. The spawn-cases are generally solitary, semiglobular, membranous, and light-yellowish-brown ; the fry emerge from a large round hole at the top, which appears when they are developed. Mr. Alder was quite right in considering this distinct from R. inconspicua ; but the name [tenuis] which he proposed, being unaccompanied by a published descrip- tion, must cede to one of these which Loven has given. It is thinner and considerably larger than R. incon- spicua, the whorls are more ventricose, the suture is much deeper, and the sculpture very different. It is possible that the present species may have been the R. similis of Brown, which was found by the Bev. William Molesworth at Padstow. 15. R. membrana'cea *, Adams. Turbo membranaeeus, Ad. in Tr. Linn. Soc. v. p. 2, t. i. f. 12, 13. B. 1a- biosa, F. & H. iii. p. 109, pi. lxxvi. f. 5, lxxvii. f. 1-3, and lxxxi. f. 3. Body pale-yellow, or slightly tinged with brown : tentacles * Membranous. RISSOA. 31 subulate, white : eyes surrounded by white spaces : foot squarish in front and pointed behind ; the central or contracted part of the sides is dark-purple : opercular lobe of the same hue, and well developed : appendage conspicuous and white. (Forbes and Hanley.) Shell conic-oblong, with an oblique outline, varying in solidity according to the nature of the habitat, semitransparent, and more or less glossy : sculpture, usually strong, prominent, somewhat curved or nexuous longitudinal ribs, from 15 to 18 of which are on the penultimate whorl ; those on the last whorl extend only halfway down, and almost disappear to- wards the mouth; the upper three whorls are perfectly smooth ; the rest of the surface is covered with numerous extremely minute and delicate transverse or spiral striae, some of which on the lower part of the body-whorl are raised and form slight obsolete ridges ; these striae are never punctured or cancellated as in R. violacea and R. costulata ; the labial rib is remarkably thick, broad and white : colour whitish, with sometimes a tinge of yellow or light-brown ; the mouth is occasionally of a violet hue or edged with purplish-brown ; now and then specimens occur which are light-horncolour and marked with reddish- brown, occasionally zigzag, streaks or blotches ; the apex of dark-coloured specimens is pale-violet: spire rather short, ter- minating in a sharp point : whorls 7, somewhat compressed ; the last occupies about two-thirds of the spire ; this is exceed- ingly large in proportion to the next, and considerably dilated : suture rather slight : mouth oval, widely expanding outwards : outer lip thin : inner Up very broad, reflected on the pillar and over the base (in some cases to such an extent as to form an umbilical chink) ; the angle incident on the junction of the two lips is a right one : pillar furnished near its base with a strong tooth-like projection or fold : operculum homcolour, with a very small spire, and strongly striated. L. 0*3. B. 0*125. Var. 1. minor. Much smaller, and smooth. Yar. 2. venusta. More solid, with a shorter spire and stronger ribs. R. venusta, -Philippi, Moll. Sic. ii. p. 124, t. xxiii. f. 4. Yar. 3. elata. Body light-grey, with small white specks, mottled with brown in front : snout short and thick, bilobed at the extremity : tentacles thread-shaped and slender, setose : eyes on swellings of the tentacles at their outer base : foot rounded and double-edged in front, with angular corners, bluntly pointed behind ; sole of a paler hue than the rest of the body, closely dappled with white, and having in the centre 32 LITTORINID^:. a short internal process (analogous to the byssiferous stylet of Mytilus?), which lies in a slanting direction with the outer point towards the tail : opercular lobe of the same colour as the sole : appendage whitish and conspicuous. Shell thinner, with a longer spire, often smaller, and usually ribless. E. data, Phil. I. c. t. xxiii. f. 3. Habitat : Zostera and seaweeds, from low tide-mark to a few fathoms, on nearly every part of our coasts ; although it is rather local. The 1st variety occurs at Tenby and in Dublin Bay, the 2nd was found at Poole by Mr. Barlee, and the 3rd frequents estuaries and brackish water. The typical form is fossil at Belfast (Grainger) ; Bute (Smith) ; Uddevalla (Malm) ; post- glacial beds in Norway, 50-150 feet (Sars) ; and Sicily (Philippi, as R. ventricosa) . Its foreign range in a living state extends from Norway, where it is very large (Loven and others) , to Malaga (M f Andrew), Dalmatia (Brusina), Corfu (Hanley, as R. elata), Black Sea (Middendorff, as R. oblong a and R. elata), Algeria (M 'Andrew and Weinkauff), and Canary Isles (v.Mohrenstern), at depths varying from low-water to 35 f. Philippics specimens of his R. venusta were Venetian. The animal occasionally floats, or suspends itself by a viscous thread. The shell varies greatly in size, thick- ness, and length of spire ; but it may always be known from R. violacea and R. costulata by its wide mouth, plain and scarcely perceptible transverse striae, and the tooth or fold on the pillar. The synonyms are inconveniently numerous. Some of them are (either certainly or probably) Turbo costatus, Pulteney, T. labiosus, Montagu, R. oblonga, R. ventri- cosa, and R. hyalina, Desmarets, R. grossa and R.fragilis, Midland, R. turricula and R. pulla, Brown, and R. Sou- ley etiana, Recluz. R. cornea of Loven may be also a local variety. RISSOA. 33 16. R. viola'cea*, Desmarets. B. violacea, Desra. in Bull. sc. soc. phil. Paris, p. 8, pi. i. f. 7. JR. ri'.fi- labrum, F. & H. iii. p. 10(3, pi. lxxvii. f. 8, 9. Body orange-white, striped in front with purplish-brown : mantle not exhibiting any process : tentacles slender, setose, marked lengthwise with an orange line : eyes conspicuous on bulbs at the outer base of the tentacles: foot rounded and double- edged in front ; sole constricted in the middle to such an ex- tent that the front part of the foot appears to issue from the hinder part, as if out of a sheath, and it is finely grooved lengthwise towards the tail : appendage single, short, and conical ; it proceeds from the hinder edge of that lobe of the mantle which forms the operculum. Shell conic-oval inclining to oblong, solid, nearly opaque, rather glossy : sculpture, usually strong, prominent, and slightly curved longitudinal ribs, about 15 of which are on the penul- timate whorl, those on the last whorl being present only on the under side ; there are none on the upper whorls, which are quite smooth ; near the mouth is a very large and broad labial rib or callus ; the interstices of the ordinary ribs and the rib- less part of the last whorl are covered with numerous rows of fine transverse striae", which are regularly and closely punc- tured : colour whitish, frequently tinged with yellow, reddish- brown, violet, or purple ; some specimens are marked length- wise by reddish-brown streaks, especially on the upper part ; the tip is usually orange ; the outside edge of the labial rib is mostly tawny, and the inside of the lip violet : spire short, more or less abruptly tapering to a fine point : whorls 7, rather tumid ; the last occupies nearly three-fifths of the spire, and is somewhat compressed and dilated towards the mouth i suture slight, overlapping the preceding whorl : mouth roundish-oval, wide, and slightly expanding in every direction : outer lip thin : inner lip broad, reflected on the pillar and towards the base : operculum horncolour, thin, composed of three rapidly increas- ing volutions, and marked with very fine and close flexuous striee in the line of growth. L. 0-2. B. 0*1. Yar. 1. ecostata. Destitute of the ordinary ribs. V"ar. 2. porifera. Body yellowish and stained with dark- purple on the upper side, whitish on the under side : mantle * Violet-coloured. c o 34 LITT0RINID.E. fringed with fine and short cilia, and furnished at the left hand or upper corner with a long but slight filamental process : snout comparatively large, bilobed: tentacles cylindrical, long and slender, strawcolour with a yellowish-brown streak down the middle of each, thinly clothed with fine and short hairs re- sembling those on the border of the mantle : eyes on small off- sets : foot divided into two parts ; the front part is transversely oblong, and the hinder part is triangular, or shaped like a spear-head, and ends in a blunt point ; the line of division is margined by a purple border : appendage long. Shell thinner, ribless, and horn colour, with a much shorter spire. R. porifera, Loven, Ind. Moll. Scand. p. 24. Habitat : Laminarian zone, in Guernsey, Hants, Sussex, Dorset, and Devon; Barmouth (J. G. J.); Bantry (Barlee) ; Connemara (Farran and others) ; Belfast (Thompson and Hyndman) ; Lough Strangford, 7-20 f. (Dickie) ; west coast of Scotland, and Shetland (Barlee and J. G. J.). The 1st variety inhabits the last two districts, and the 2nd the West Voe at the Whalsey Skerries in east Shetland. " Subfossile," Nice (Bisso) ; post-glacial bed in Norway, 50 feet (Sars). Living from Finmark to the Cattegat, in 1-40 f., as R. rufila- brum and R. porifera; north of France to Vigo, the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and iEgean, in 7-25 f., as R. violacea; Yillafranca (Hanley), as R. rufilabrum. The animal of the variety porifera twirls about rest- lessly at intervals, using its foot as a pivot ; the male is not half as large as the female. The shell of the ordinary form varies extremely in size, as well as in the length and sharpness of the spire. Mediterranean specimens are more narrow and slender, and their colour is much brighter, presenting the same analogy that exists between southern and northern specimens of R. costulata. That species differs from the present in having a longer and more tapering spire, a smaller base and contracted RISSOA. 35 mouth, aud in the striae being cancellated instead of punctured. This is probably the R. Guerinii of Recluz. The same author also described it as R. lilacina, Delle Chiaje as Turbo Rissoanus, Chiereghini as T. Mavors, Renier as T. amethystinus, and Potiez and Michaud as R. punctata. 17. R. costula'ta *, Alder. B. costtdata, Aid. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. xiii. p. 324, pi. yin. f. 8, 9 ; F. & H. iii. p. 103, pi. lxxvii. f. 4, 5. Body yellowish, tinged with brown in front : snout rather long, wrinkled, and cloven at its extremity : tentacles thread- shaped, slender, retractile, finely setose, sulphur-coloured, with a greenish hue or vein down the middle of each : eyes on small bulgings of the tentacles, at their outer bases : foot rounded in front, divided across in the middle, so as to make the anterior and posterior portions appear separate, bluntly pointed behind; posterior half of the sole grooved lengthwise ; appendage white, retractile. Shell conic-oblong, somewhat spindle-shaped in consequence of the apex being pointed and the base narrower than the middle, rather solid, nearly opaque, more or less glossy ; sculp- ture, strong, prominent, and nearly straight longitudinal ribs, 10 of which are on the penultimate whorl, those on the last whorl usually disappearing towards the mouth ; there are none on the upper three or four whorls, which are quite smooth ; near the mouth is a rib, much larger and broader than any of the rest ; the ribs on each whorl are either continuous or arranged alternately, so as to appear dovetailed; the spaces between the ribs and the space near the mouth are covered with fine and rather numerous transverse or spiral striae, the interstices of which are delicately and closely cancellated, es- pecially at the base of the shell : colour pale-yellowish or dirty white, often tinged with lilac, or streaked lengthwise with reddish -brown, sometimes pure- white; the ribs are mostly of a lighter hue -or whitish, and are therefore conspicuous ; the inside edge of the mouth is nearly always lilac or reddish-brown; occasionally the whole surface, except the labial rib, is orna- mented by longitudinal zigzag streaks of reddish-brown, and * Slightly ribbed. 36 littorinidjE. the ribs are encircled by a white line ; the tip in worn speci- mens is frequently purplish : spire abruptly tapering to a fine point : whorls 8, convex, the lower two being equal in breadth, and the penultimate sometimes even slightly broader than the last ; the upper whorls rapidly diminish in size ; and those forming the point of the spire are disproportionately small and flattened : suture rather deep : mouth roundish-oval, con- tracted and incurved above, slightly expanding at the sides and below : outer lip thin beyond the large rib or callus which strengthens the mouth : inner Up considerably reflected on the pillar and towards the base : operculum pale-horncolour, of three rapidly increasing volutions, and finely striated. L. 0*2. B. 0-075. Habitat : Codium tomentosum and other small sea- weeds at low-water, in the Channel Isles and on the coasts of Dorset and Devon ; also at Hyde (Hanley) • Worthing (Rich) ; Manorbeer in Pembrokeshire, and Cork (J. G. J.) ; Scarborough (Bean) ; Lamlash (Lands- borough). Probably the last locality, and certainly Connemara (given by Forbes and Hanley on the late Mr. Thompson's authority), appertains to R. violacea, instead of to the present species. R. costulata inhabits the northern and western coasts of France (Mace and others), Gijon, Corunna, and Vigo (M' Andrew), and both sides of the Mediterranean. Specimens from that sea are smaller and more slender than those from the North Atlantic. There are two sizes everywhere, appa- rently representing a difference of sex. I found a living specimen at Lulworth which had the lower half broken off and a new mouth formed among the ruins. It is not R. costulata of Risso (which is R. costata, Desmarets, and R. variabilis, v. Muhlfeld) , nor R. costu- lata of Searles Wood, from the Coralline Crag. Leach called the present species Persephona Goodallana and P. rufilabris, judging from his description of the former, RISSOA. 37 and from typical specimens of the latter in the British Museum. It is also the R. subcostulata of v. Mohren- stern. I regard R. similis of Scacchi as a small variety. 18. R. stria'ta*, Adams. Turbo striatus, Ad. in Tr. Linn. Soc. iii. p. 6G, 1. 13. f. 25, 26. R. striata, F. & H. iii. p. 94, pi. lxxviii. f. 8, 9. Body white, with a tinge of yellow : pallial filament nearly hyaline, and pendent : snout rather long and narrow : tentacles cylindrical, very finely and closely ciliated : eyes black, almost sessile : foot narrow, truncated in front and slightly auricled, contracted in the middle, and tapering behind to a round point : appendage short, white, and pointed. Shell oblong, inclining to cylindrical, rather solid, nearly opaque, and usually lustreless : sculpture, numerous thread- like spiral striae, of which there are about 20 on the body-whorl; frequently the upper part of each of the three next whorls (and occasionally also the body-whorl) has a few longitudinal slightly flexuous 'ribs, that reach only about halfway down and are crossed by the spiral striae ; the two uppermost whorls are quite smooth and glossy : colour white or various shades of yellow, with sometimes two indistinct but broad reddish- brown bands round the middle of the last whorl, which do not extend to the mouth : spire elongated, with a blunt point : ivhorls 6, somewhat compressed, gradually enlarging, the last two being nearly equal in breadth, and the largest occupying about three-fifths of the spire : suture very distinct and rather deep : mouth proportionally small, having a somewhat flexuous out- line : outer lip thin, mostly strengthened outside by a thick rib : inner lip reflected, and forming with the other lip a com- plete peristome : operculum transparent, and delicately stri- ated. L. 0-125. E. 0-05. Yar. arctica. Without longitudinal ribs or coloured bands. R. arctica, Loven, Ind. Moll. Scand. p. 24. Habitat : All our coasts, under stones and at the base of seaweeds on the recess of spring tides ; living in clusters. It inhabits also the laminarian and coralline zones ; and I have dredged it in upwards of 80 fathoms. * Striated. 38 littorinidjE. The variety is more peculiar to the north, although oc- curring everywhere with the typical form. As an upper tertiary fossil this variety has been noticed in Ireland (Brown), Clyde beds (Crosskey), Fort William (Bed- ford and J. G. J.), post-glacial deposits in Norway, 130 feet, and glacial shell-banks in Aremark, Norway, 280-460 feet (Sars), and Coralline Crag (S. Wood). Its foreign range comprises Spitzbergen (Torell), Green- land (Moller), Sea of Okhotsk and coast of Russian Lapland (Middendorff), Iceland (Steenstrup), and Scan- dinavia (Loven and others), 0-50 f., where the ty- pical form also occurs : this last ranges from Heligo- land (Philip pi) to Corunna and Vigo (M f Andrew) , and thence to the Gulf of Lyons (Martin) and the iEgean in 20 f. (Forbes). M 'Andrew found a dwarf variety at Teneriffe. The variety arctic a (under the specific name aculeus, given to it by Professor Stimpson) inhabits the northern sea-board of the United States. This little creature is by no means shy or sluggish. It probably feeds on decayed seaweeds. Females are the better halves in point of size. Some specimens are slender, some ventricose, some of thin texture and deli- cately striated, others are distorted by being twisted on one side in the most lackadaisical fashion. Those from deep water are much smaller than littoral specimens. Synonyms : — R. minutissima, Michaud, R. communis, Forbes, R. gracilis, Macgillivray, R. decussata, Pyramis candidus, and P. discors, Brown, and R. pedicularis, Menke. The young is the Turbo semicostatus of Mon- tagu and Odostomia Mariona of Macgillivray, and the variety is the R. saxatilis of Moller. Philippi considered a species which he described in the ' Zeitschrift fur Ma- lakozoologie ' for 1849 as R. delicata (from the Red Sea) to be a tropical variety of our R. striata. RISSOA. 39 D. Spirally striated, or smooth; outer lip plain. 19. R. prox'ima* Alder. E. proximo, (Alder), F. & H. iii. p. 127, pi. lxxv. f. 7, 8. Body brilliant and almost clear white, dotted with minute opaque-white flakes : mantle even, and (as well as the next species, R. vitrea) not exhibiting the usual filamental process : snout somewhat cylindrical and extensile, quite smooth and rounded at its extremity, where it forms a rose-like disk ; when fully extended it is blotched at the sides and on the tip with claret-red : tentacles rather short, flat, strong, tapering, and minutely bulbous at the tips, each of which is clothed with six comparatively long and fine needle-shaped hairs : eyes re- markably large, black, and placed on miuute and nearly semicircular lateral excrescences at the outer bases of the ten- tacles, which are so amalgamated with them as scarcely to present any prominence : foot large, fleshy, grooved and slightly labiated in front, with a deep notch or indentation, and ex- panded into large, long, arched, and pointed auricles ; it is divided behind into two long distinct and diverging tails or streamers : opercular lobe close to the point of such bifurcation, and destitute of a caudal cirrus. (Clark.) Shell closely resembling the next species (JR. vitrea) in shape and size ; but it is never lustrous ; and when examined with even a low magnifying power, instead of being smooth it is seen to be encircled by numerous distinct and rather spiral striae ; the colour is snow-white beneath a pale-yellowish epidermis ; the spire tapers more gradually, and has a some- what abruptly truncated apex ; the whorls are compact, and not loosely coiled ; the inner lip is more closely attached to the pillar ; and the operculum is white, formed of 4 or 5 volu- tions, and marked with delicate striae in the line of growth. Habitat : Exmouth, eight miles from shore, in 15 f., on a bottom of shells and mud (Clark) ; Torbay and Plymouth, in 15-20 f., with R. vitrea (J. G. J.) ; Fal- mouth (Barlee) ; Helford (Hockin) ; Cork, Bantry, and Dublin (J. G. J. and others). Mr. Searles Wood has lately found two specimens in the Coralline Crag at * The nearest, i. e. to R. vitrea. 40 LITTORINID.E. Sutton. Its foreign known or supposed distribution is southern and limited, as follows : — Gulf of Lyons (Mar- tin); Spezzia (Doria and J. G. J.); Ajaccio (Requien); Naples (Tiberi); Teneriffe (M f Andrew). R. proximo, appears to be a rare as well as " critical ; ' species. Besides its affinity to R. vitrea, it is nearly related to the variety arctica of R. striata. In the last- named species, however, the texture and sculpture of the shell are coarser, the spire is pointed and not trun- cated, and the suture is less deep and not so oblique. The present species may be distinguished from R. vitrea by its being striated and never glossy. May one be the male and the other the female of the same species ? It is probably the R. pupoides of Requien. I de- scribed it about twenty years ago in the ' Annals of Natural History ' as R. striatula, not remembering that the name had been preengaged for a supposed Linnean species. 20. R. vi'trea*, Montagu. Turbo vitreus, Mont. Test. Br. p. 321, t. 12. f. 3. B. vitrea, F. & H. iii. p. 125, pi. lxxv. f. 5, 6. Body white, and appearing as if veined, with a frosty hue : snout short, cloven at the extremity, fleshcolour: tentacles thread- shaped, long and compressed, setose at the tips only, and ser- rated at the outer bases: eyes conspicuous, placed on small bulbs or eminences : foot double-edged in front and indented so deeply as to form two distinct broad lobes, rounded behind : no appendage observable. Shell nearly cylindrical, thin, semitransparent, and of a glassy lustre : sculpture none, examined with a hand-lens ; but under the microscope or even a Coddington lens the sur- face exhibits extremely fine regular and close-set spiral striae : colour of live or fresh specimens pale yellowish-white, which soon becomes bleached by exposure to the air : spire elongated and slender, ending rather abruptly in an obtuse point : whorls * Glassy. RISSOA. 41 6, convex, loosely and obliquely coiled, the last three being nearly eqnal in breadth, and the first minute ; the body-whorl occupies nearly two-thirds of the spire : suture remarkably deep : mouth exactly oval, small, and slightly expanding : outer lip thin, contracted, and incurved above : inner lip somewhat reflected, and more or less detached from the pillar : operculum few-whorled, light-horncolour, with the spire placed excen- trically. L. 0-135. B. 0-05. Habitat : Mud in the coralline zone, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Bristol and English Channels ; Northumber- land coast (Alder) ; south and west of Ireland and Dub- lin Bay; Dunbar (Bingham, fide Brown) ; Moray Firth (Macgillivray and Macdonald) ; west coast of Scotland (Barlee and J. G. J.) ; Orkneys (Thomas) ; and Bressay in Shetland (Fleming) . It is local and somewhat rare. Fossil in the Coralline Crag at Sutton (Wood). Pro- fessor Sars has dredged it of a very large size off Floroen in Finmark; Malm obtained forty-five specimens, of which several were living, in 20-30 f. on the Bohuslan coast ; La Hogue Bay near Cherbourg (Mace) ; Vigo (M 'Andrew) ; Gulf of Lyons, in the stomach of As- tropecten irregularis, with R. proximo, (Martin) ; Spezzia (J. G. J.). Very active, and suspends itself by a single byssal thread, keeping the mouth of the shell closed by the operculum. Captain Brown made of this species three, which he called vitrea, crystallina, and virginea. A shell kindly given me by M. Nyst, from the Belgian tertiaries, as R. vitrea, is twice as large as our shell ; it has an angu- lated periphery, a shallower and straight suture, fewer though more conspicuous spiral striae, and an acute- angled outer lip, the inner lip being closely attached throughout to the pillar. 42 LITTORINID.E. 21. R. pulcher'rima"*, Jeffreys. B. pulcherrima, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 2. ii. p. 351 ; F. & H. iii. p. 129, pi. lxxv. f. 1, 2. Body whitish, with yellow specks : snout convex, projecting beyond the foot, and bilobed at the extremity : tentacles rather short, thickly and exquisitely setose, with rounded tips : eyes large : foot slender, rounded in front, divided across in the middle by a fine line (as in many other species of Rissoa), and bluntly pointed behind ; sole slightly grooved down the middle on its posterior half: opercular lobe margined on each side with dark purplish-brown : appendage very long and pointed. Shell conical with a broad and dilated base, thin, semi- transparent, and glossy : sculpture none : colour whitish, pret- tily variegated by 4 rows of reddish-brown spots on the body- whorl, the spots in the upper two and lower two rows (or in the upper two only) being sometimes confluent and forming short longitudinal streaks ; the penultimate whorl has 2 or 3 rows, and the next 1 row : spire short, ending in a remark- ably obtuse and mammiform point : whorls 4, ventricose ; the last equals three-fourths of the spire, and expands considerably towards the mouth : suture very deep : mouth nearly round : outer lip thin : inner lip reflected on the pillar, behind which is a small but distinct perforation : operculum thin, impressed with a few strong diverging lines ; the nucleus of the spire is rather more central than in any of the preceding species, and resembles that of a Littorina. L. 0-075. B. 0-05. Habitat : Among small seaweeds and on Zostera at low-water in all the Channel Isles ; not uncommon. Some years ago, at Exmoutlr, after washing a quantity of Corallina officinalis which I had collected on that coast, I found two or three specimens of R. pulcherrima, and I was at first delighted at having discovered a new habitat; but I have since recollected that Mr. Barlee lent me for the examination sieves which he had last used in Guernsey. Such trifling accidents may cause great confusion in our ideas of geographical distribution. I have taken this pretty shell at Sestri di Levante ; and * Very beautiful. RISSOA. 43 I observed it in the collections of MM. Susini from Corsica and of M. Mace at Cannes. It is exceedingly agile both in creeping and swimming, and spins a delicate thread of attachment. Mr. Clark states that this species (i is a dwarf, nearly ribless R. inconspicua. ,} The latter, however, has a much narrower base, the spire is more tapering and sharp-pointed, and the outer lip is furnished with a rib ; and the shell is never so thin in proportion to its size, and is invariably sculptured. I have carefully compared the young and adult of each species, in order to satisfy myself as to their distinctness. Truncatella fusca of Philippi is allied to the present species. 22. R. ful'gida*, Adams. Helix ful gidus, Ad. in Tr. Linn. Soc. iii. p. 254? R. fulgida, F. & H. iii. p. 128, pi. lxxxi. f. 1, 2. Body whitish, with more or less of a yellow hue, and micro- scopically suffused with flake-white points : mantle not exhi- biting any filament : snout short, bifid at the point : tentacles cylindrical but somewhat compressed, rather short, sparingly and minutely setose : eyes large in proportion, on small pro- tuberances of the tentacles, at their outer bases : foot flexible, usually rounded in front and bluntly pointed behind; sole grooved lengthwise down the middle on the posterior half. Neither Mr. Clark nor myself could detect any distinct oper- cular cirrus or appendage — although he says, " in some speci- mens I have fancied I saw a very short blunt one." Shell conic-oval, inclining to globular, rather thin, semi- transparent, and glossy : sculpture none, even under the micro- scope : colour pale yellow or creamy, with two reddish-brown bands on the body- whorl, one narrower just below the suture, and the other broader below the periphery; there is also a streak of the latter colour on the base ; the penultimate whorl is mostly reddish-brown: spire very short: whorls 4, tumid; the last equals three-fourths of the spire, and is somewhat expanded towards the mouth : suture deep : mouth nearly round : outer lip thin : * Shining. 14 LITTORINID.E. inner lip having sometimes a pink tinge, thickened and slightly reflected at the base, behind which is a small chink : operculum ear-shaped, depressed in the centre, with a minute and nearly excentric spire. L. 0-035. B. 0*025. Var. pallida. Strawcolour, without the upper, and sometimes without either band, occasionally having merely a pink or reddish-brown streak on the base. Habitat : Abundant in the lower part of the littoral zone, among Zostera marina and small seaweeds, in the Channel Isles, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, and the south and west of Ireland. I have also found it sparingly in Langland Bay near Swansea, and Lough Larne near Belfast. Mr. Lyons noticed it at Tenby, and Mr. Nor- man in the Clyde district. The variety occurred to me feeding on Zostera at Lulworth. R. fulgida is fossil in Calabria (Philippi) . It inhabits the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France, as well as Corsica, Piedmont, Sicily, Dalmatia, and Candia. This mite of a shell is not half the size of the next species (R. soluta) , from which it differs in colour, want of sculpture, shorter spire, having the last whorl more expanded, and a less distinct umbilical cleft. It is often encrusted with Melobesia polymorpha. Mr. Clark's first impression, adopted by Forbes and Hanley, that the operculum is not spiral, was properly corrected by him in his own work. He says that the animal does not walk straight; that it " often jerks or screws the shell a quarter of a round, and carries it almost perpendi- cularly ; '' and that " on the march the eyes are always under the shell, as are usually the muzzle and foot, the ends of the tentacula only being visible/' I frequentlv observed it spinning a fine transparent slimy thread, and thus hanging suspended to a bit of seaweed or to the surface of the water. It also swims freely, like its con- geners. RISSOA. 45 It is the R.pygmcea of Michaudj and probably R.fas- ciata of Requien. 23. R. solu'ta*, Philippi. R. soluta, Phil. Moll. Sic. ii. p. 130, t. xxiii. f. 18 ; F. & H. iii. p. 131, pi. lxxv. f. 3, 4. Body pale-yellowish-white, minutely speckled with flaky points : mantle lining the month of the shell : filament con- spicuous: snout short, having a pink or dull-reddish- brown tinge above, and a patch of bright sulphur- yellow on each side below : tentacles cylindrical but somewhat compressed, slender, thickly covered with fine and rather long cilia : eyes scarcely raised, usually seen within the shell : foot long and narrow, labiated in front and slightly auricled at the corners, bluntly pointed behind : appendage very long and distinct, flattish at the base, and tapering to a fine point. Shell conic-oval, with a tendency to globoseness, solid for its size, semitransparent, and rather glossy: sculpture, extremely fine and somewhat numerous spiral striae, which are not per- ceptible except by a very strong magnifier or (in some speci- mens) under a microscope: colour uniform buff or pale-yellowish: spire very short, with a blunt point : whorls 5, convex, the last equalling two- thirds of the spire : suture deep : mouth more round than oval : outer lip rather thick : inner lip reflected at the base, behind which is a small umbilical chink : operculum ear-shaped, marked with a few diverging lines of growth. L. 0-05. B. 0-035. Var. Alderi. Larger and thinner, with a more produced and pointed spire. B. Alderi, Jeftr. in Ann. and Mag. N. H. ser. 3. iii. p. 127, pi. v. f. 5 a-c. Habitat : Coralline zone in Shetland, the Hebrides, and Guernsey ; also in Dunnet Bay, Pentland Firth, and Moray Firth (Gordon), Aberdeenshire coast (Dawson), Clyde district (Webster and others), Belfast Bay (Hynd- man and J. G. J.), Dublin Bay (Kinahan), Cork (J. G. J.),Bantry Bay (Beevor), Arran Isle, co. Galway (Bar- lee), west coast of Ireland (Hoskyns) , Fowey and Kings- bridge (Barlee), Helford (Hockin), Exmonth (Clark), * Loose (referring to the convolutions of the spire). 46 LITTORINID^. and Plymouth (J. G. J.). The variety occurred to me in the laminarian zone at Skye, and the "Whalsey Skerries in the east of Shetland. Fossil in the post-glacial beds of Norway from the present level of the sea to 100 feet above it (Sars). This author has also noticed it living on the Norwegian coasts as far north as Oxfjord in Finmark ; I found it at Etretat in Normandy, Martin in the Gulf of Lyons, Mace at Antibes, and Philippi at Sorrento and Palermo. Although local, it is not un- common. It is an active and restless little creature. I observed in this and other species ofRissoa an upward and down- ward current or movement on the surface of each ten- tacle, apparently caused by the action of the cilia. Having carefully compared British and Mediterranean specimens, I still believe that Philippics description and figure of R. soluta fairly represent our shell. It varies considerably in the length and compactness of the spire, as well as in the degree of sculpture. Indeed the striae cannot be detected in most specimens unless by means of a high magnifying-power, which possibly Philippi was not in the habit of using. He especially mentioned the umbilical fissure that characterizes the present shell. Searles Wood proposed to call our species intersecta, in case its identification with Philippics species should prove to be erroneous; Bean gave it the MS. name of minutissima, and Martin that of globosa. The last two names I have seen in collections. 24. R. semistria'ta"*, Montagu. Turbo semistriatus, Mont. Test. Br. Suppl. p. 136. B. semistriata, F. & H. iii. p. 117, pi. lxxx. f. 4, 7. Body pale-yellowish-white : pallial filament short : snout * Half-striated. RISSOA. 47 not so long as in many other species, grooved in the centre above, and deeply cloven at the extremity : tentacles cylindrical but somewhat compressed, rather long, and covered with close-set cilia : eyes on scarcely raised tubercles : foot squarish in front, with slightly angular corners, and tapering behind to a blunt point : appendage tricuspid and short, placed over the tail but never projecting beyond it. Shell conic-oval, rather solid, semitransparent, and some- what glossy : sculpture, on the body- whorl below the suture about half a dozen slight spiral striae, of which the upper two close to the suture are much stronger than the rest, and about a dozen similar and distinct striae below the periphery, the intermediate space being faintly also striated or frequently quite smooth ; the other whorls exhibit the subsutural striae only : colour pale yellowish-white, with a row of reddish-brown short and broad longitudinal streaks or blotches on the upper part of each whorl, and a second row of smaller and narrower streaks on the lower part, which last are often interrupted or broken ; the other whorls are seldom marked in this way : spire rather short but pointed, with a blunt tip : ivhorls 6, rounded but not convex, the last occupying nearly two-thirds of the spire : suture slight, encircled by the uppermost and strongest stria of each whorl: mouth open, though not expanded: outer lip sharp : inner lip reflected on the pillar and base, united above with the outer lip : operculum yellowish, and thin, slightly striated. L. 0-01. B. 0-065. Yar. pura. White and spotless. Habitat : Littoral and laminarian zones, in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland as far north as the outer Hebrides (J. G. J.), Aberdeenshire (Dawson), Moray Firth (Gordon), and Shetland (Barlee). The variety is equally diffused, but more common in Guernsey than elsewhere. Lilljeborg found this species in Norway, and it occurs in the Cattegat ; but southwards it becomes more frequent, both on the eastern coasts of the North Atlantic and in the Mediterranean; Adriatic (von Schrockinger) ; Algeria (Weinkauff) . This pretty little mollusk, which Clark called " a bashaw with three tails/' congregates in family groups 48 LITTORINID^E. on the under surfaces of stones laid bare at low water of spring tides. It swims, like its congeners, with the sole of the foot uppermost. It is possibly the Turbo scriptus of Adams, and un- questionably R. pulchra of Johnston, R. tristriata of Thompson, and R. subsulcata of Philippi. R. semistriata of the last named author, from the Red Sea, appears to be different from our species. 25. R. cingil'lus *, Montagu. Turbo cingillus, Mont. Test. Br. p. 328, t. 12. f. 7. B. cingillus, F. & H. iii. p. \ 22, pi. lxxix. f. 9, 10, and (animal) pi. J J. f. 4. Body pale -yellowish -white or milk-white; snout semi- transparent : tentacles long, nearly cylindrical, flexible, with somewhat bulbous tips : eyes black and conspicuous, sometimes on whitish tubercles : foot narrow, bat proportionally short, squarish in front and bluntly pointed behind ; caudal cirrus not observed. Shell conic-oblong, rather solid, semitransparent, and somewhat glossy : sculpture, on the body-whorl from 12 to 20 slight spiral ridges, which are sharp and distinct below the periphery, but more or less obsolete above it ; these ridges are scarcely perceptible on the other whorls ; they are crossed by numerous fine striae in the line of growth, causing an imperfect decussation ; the last whorl is slightly angulated : colour buff or yellowish-white, with two chocolate or reddish-brown bands on the last whorl, and one on each of the upper whorls, besides part of a second band above the suture ; there is also a third, shorter band or streak at the base ; and occasionally, when the bands are narrow, a fourth may be seen between the lower band and the basal streak : spire long and gradually tapering, with a -blunt tip : ivhorls 6-7, flattened, the last occupying about two -fifths of the spire : suture distinct and slightly channelled : mouth rather small : outer lip sharp : inner lip forming a glaze on the pillar, and united with the upper lip at the outer angle : operculum horncolour, marked with diverging lines of growth. L. 0-175. B. 0-085. Var. rupestris. Creamcolour or milk-white, and bandless. R. rupestris, Forbes in Ann. N. H. v. p. 107, pi. 2. f. 13. * For cingillum, a small girdle. RISSOA. 49 Habitat : Gregarious, between tide-marks, on nearly every part of our shores. The variety is equally diffused, but nowhere so common as at Wevmouth and Lulworth. The only locality recorded for this species as fossil is Ireland, on the authority of Capt. Brown. Its foreign range probably extends from Iceland (Zoega, fide Linne) , along the Scandinavian coast from Bergen, southwards to the iEgean (Forbes) . It has been found in several parts of France, Spain, and the north of Italy. It appears to subsist on decayed seaweeds. Every shade and gradation, as regards the colour and bands, may be observed ; and I have a slightly turreted distor- tion. Linnets description (in the 12th volume of his l Sys- tema Naturae ') of Helix pella may suit this species ; and there is no doubt that it is the Turbo trifasciatus of Adams, and T. vittatus of Donovan. Although all these names have precedence of that given by Montagu, I must retain his as now universally accepted. Custom, wills that, in science as well as in literature, names and words in general use should be preferred to those which are obsolete, although the latter may have the claim of priority ; nor will the feeble cry of justice to the memory of the author be listened to while the loud and imperious demand of public convenience is ringing in our ears. Michaud called this species R. cingilus, and Macgillivray R. cingillata. A variety of a paler hue is Turton's Turbo graphicus ; and the variety rupestris is R. fallax of Brown. The " spurious " or un-English species of Rissoa are as follows : — 1. R. auriscalpium {Turbo, L.) = T. marginatus , Mont. = T. arcuatus, Dillw. = R. acuta, Desm. = R. acicula, Risso = Zippora Drummondii and Z. Drummondiana, VOL. IV. D 50 LITTORINID.E. i t Leach : said to have been found at Dunbar by Laskey — an authority not to be relied on, seeing that Tellina carnaria, Amphidesma nitens, Siliquaria bidens, and several other exotic shells are enumerated by him from that locality ; Dunbar also (Bingham, fide Brown) ; Cork (Leach) . It is a common Mediterranean shell. 2. R.disjuncta (T. disjunctus,^/Lont.). West-Indian. 3. R. Montagui, Payr. = R. Binghami, Brown : St. Fergus's Bay, Peterhead (Bingham, fide Brown) . Medi- terranean and Adriatic. 4. R. glabrata, v. Muhlf. = R. punctulum, Phil. = R. ni- tida, Brusina : Shetland and Skye (J. Gr. J., in conse- quence of sifting shell- sand through sieves which were not properly cleaned after I had used them on the Pied- montese coast). Mediterranean and Adriatic. 5. R. cimex {Turbo, L.) = T. calathiscus, Mont. = Alvania Europe a, A. mamillata, and A. Fremingvillea, Risso=i?. cancellata, Desm.=i?. granulata, Phil. : Isle of Jura (Laskey); Cumbrae (J. Smith). Mediterra- nean and Adriatic. In the same category may be placed several species of Rissoina, a genus instituted by D'Orbigny to receive certain shells allied to Rissoa, which have the lower part of the mouth slightly channelled, and the operculum furnished underneath with a process like that of Neri- tina. There is no British species of Rissoina. Those erroneously recorded as such are : — '1. Rissoina Bruguieri, Payr.: Scarborough (Bean). Loire-Inferieure (Cailliaud) ; north coast of Spain (M f Andrew) ; Adriatic (Heller) ; Mediterranean (Pay- raudeau and others) ; iEgean (Spratt) . 2. Rissoina Bryerea {Turbo Bryereus, Mont.) = T. costatus, Don.: Margate (Donovan); Weymouth (Bryer); Dunbar (Laskey) ; Cornwall, Portmarnock, and Firth of HYDROBIA. 51 Forth (Brown) ; Peterhead (Crombie, fide Macgillivray) . West Indian. 3. Rissoina decussata {Turbo decussatus, Mont.) =R. pyramideUa, Brown : Weymouth (Bryer) ; Portobello Sands (Laskey) ; Dunbar (Brown). West-Indian. 4. Rissoina conifer a (Turbo coniferus, Mont.): Wey- mouth (Bryer) ; north of France (De Gerville) . West- Indian. 5. Rissoina denticulata {Turbo denticulatus , Mont.) : Weymouth (Bryer) ; Cornwall and Dunbar (Brown) ; Herm (Lukis). West-Indian. The following are irrecognizable : — 1 . Rissoa sulcata, Brown: Dunbar (Bingham). Apparently a Rissoina. 2. Rissoa Candida, Brown : " Belton Sands near Dun- bar." Perhaps the same species as the last. 3. Rissoa lactea, Brown (not of Michaud) : " Dunbar." Another Rissoina, probably R. Chesnelii of Michaud, a native of the West Indies and Mauritius. Genus IV. HYDROBIA. (See vol. i. p. 63.) I would remind my readers that the chief characters by which the present genus is distinguishable from Rissoa (to which it is closely allied) consist in the foot of Hy- drobia wanting the opercular appendage or caudal fila- ment, and in Rissoa being truly marine, while this lives in estuaries and brackish water only. In the latter respect both genera may be regarded as the creatures of habitat. Their shells are equally small. When I placed Hydrobia in the Paludinida, I had not sufficiently considered its systematic relations. I now withdraw it from that family. The description of the operculum (vol. i. p. 55) must be amended by omitting the words " or paucispiral." d2 52 LITTOUINID^E. Hydrobia ulv^e^ Pennant. Turbo uIvcb, Penn. Br. Zool. iv. p. 132, t. lxxxvi. f. 120. Rissoa ulvce, F. & H. iii. p. 141, pi. lxxxi. f. 4, 5, 8, 9, pi. lxxxvii. f. 2, 8, and (animal) pi. JJ. f. 8. Body light-slatecolour, dark-grey, or sootcolour, with more or less of a purple tinge, speckled with yellow, and having occasionally a few markings of purple-brown on the upper part: pallidl process thread-shaped, short, and ciliated: snout nearly cylindrical, prominent, and extensile, cloven at the ex- tremity, edged in front by a purplish -brown line, and having two yellow spots in the middle : tentacles thread-shaped but somewhat compressed, long, slender, and diverging, irregularly speckled with yellow, marked across a little below the tips by a bar or ring of purplish -brown, and edged with the same colour ; they are covered with fine and short, but not con- spicuous, vibratile cilia, and often (especially the left-hand ten- tacle) scalloped or serrated at the sides, like the weapon of a sword-fish, apparently in consequence of voluntary contraction ; tips rounded : eyes on small protuberances : foot lanceolate, squarish and double-edged in front with short salient cor- ners, narrower in the middle, and rounded behind ; it is mar- gined with a narrow purplish-brown line ; sole light-grey, with yellow specks : opercular lobe large and expanding on each side, darkpurplish-brown ; it has no filament, process, or ap- pendage of any kind. Shell oblong, rather solid, opaque, and of a dullish hue : sculpture, under a hand-lens exhibiting occasionally a few slight spiral lines on the last whorl ; with a higher microscopic power may be detected on all the whorls extremely fine, close-set and numerous concentric wavy striae ; there are also the usual lon- gitudinal lines of growth ; the body-whorl is more or less distinctly keeled in the middle : colour yellowish or reddish- brown of various shades passing into horncolour : epidermis very thin, and mostly obscure : spire rather long and tapering, with a blunt tip : whorls 7-8, compressed, the last occupying about one-half of the spire viewed in a supine position : suture well-defined although not deep : mouth oval, narrowly an- gulated above, and effuse or spread out below, where it is also somewhat angular : outer lip thin and plain : inner lip white, reflected on the pillar and over the base of the shell, behind which it forms a small cleft or umbilical chink ; the * Inhabiting Viva lactuca. HYDROBIA. 53 lips are continuous aud make a complete peristome : operculum horny and thin, marked with flexuous and rather strong lines of growth, and having a small lateral spire of three whorls. L. 0-25. B. 0-125. Yar. 1. albida. Of a whitish colour. Yar. 2. Barleei. Smaller and spindle-shaped, the last whorl being contracted at the base, and the mouth much smaller than usual. Rissoa Barleei, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. xix. p. 310. Yar. 3. octona. Smaller, thin, glossy, and horncolour, with the whorls more slowly increasing and divided by a deeper suture. Helix octona, Linn. S. N. p. 1248. Habitat : All our tidal rivers, inlets, and bays ; cover- ing mud-flats and oozy sands in countless profusion. Var. 1 is occasionally found. Var. 2. Hebrides (Barlee and J. Gr. J.) ; the typical form occurs in Loch Carron and at Stornoway. This variety is littoral — although the specimens (dead ones) which I described as Rissoa Barleei were dredged in deep water, having accidentally got there. Lindstrom noticed the same variety on the eastern shores of the Baltic. Var. 3. In a large pool of brackish water, called Arnold's Pond, near Grand Havre Bay, Guernsey. This last variety inhabits the southern shores of the Baltic; and M. Tasle sent me specimens from Brittany. It may be a distinct species ; but we do not know the effect of local conditions and consequent change of food on the shape of animals. H. ulvce is fossil in a post-tertiary deposit at Belfast (Grainger) , Clyde beds (Smith and Crosskey) , Norwich Crag (Woodward), Red and Coralline Crag (S. Wood), Uddevalla (J. G. J.), Norway, in post-glacial beds (with the variety Barleei) , from the present level of the sea to 130 feet above it (Sars). Its foreign range extends from Finmark to Spain and throughout the Mediter- ranean ; and Dr. Philip Carpenter has recorded it as a 54 LITTORINIDiE. native of the Gnlf of California. An allied species [Turbo minutus, Totten) appears to be its representative on the east coast of North America ; this has a smaller and more oval shell, with convex whorls. " In summer it is the chief food of the grey mullet ; in winter various sea-birds feed upon it " (Hyndman). Its own subsistence is derived from Enter omorphce, Con- ferva, and other delicate seaweeds; and I can testify that it can fast a long while, having kept live specimens for many days in a vessel which contained nothing but water, without observing any diminution of their viva- city. Males are very much smaller than females (from which my description has been taken), and their shells have no keel. The former sex is probably the Turbo subumbilicatus of Montagu. The hollow space between the two edges in front of the foot is lined with vibratile cilia, by the action of which a fluctuating motion is pro- duced when the animal is crawling, and a tremulous one when it is at rest. The faeces are elliptic. Occasionally the surface of the shell is eroded and pitted, so as to ex- pose the innermost layers ; or the top whorls are trun- cated. In the latter case a rude semispiral partition is formed by the upper fold of the mantle, as in Truncatella truncatula. The spire is now and then seen to be un- naturally lengthened, evidently owing to some accident in early growth, when a fresh start had to be made. The shell is extremely variable in size and comparative con- vexity. My largest specimen (from Southampton) is upwards of four lines long. It is the Bulimus anatinus of Poiret, and Turbo muri- aticus of Beudant, generically changed by Draparnaud and Lamarck to Cyclostoma and Paludina. Orsted de- scribed it as Paludinella vulgaris. I regard also the Paludina bait hie a of Nilsson and P. minuta of Requien HETEROPHROSYNID^. 00 as local varieties. The Rissoa rubra of Macgillivray is certainly the present species, and not Barleeia rubra as he supposed. Family X. HE'TEROPHROSY'NIDjE, Clark. Body spiral : mantle plain-edged : head snout-shaped : ten- tacles cylindrical and short, with rounded tips : eyes sessile, or nearly so : foot double-edged in front ; hinder part of the sole slightly grooved down the middle. Shell small, conical, and spiral : operculum not spiral but increasing by concentric layers, with the nucleus on the inner side, next to the pillar ; that side is strengthened by a rib, and furnished underneath with a spike -like process or plate, which projects from the nucleus. As the name imports, these mollusks are abnormal, allied to the Littorinidce, and distinguishable from that family not much more than the Turbinidce are from the Trochidce* . The operculum is very peculiar. It has an excentric nucleus, like that of Buccinum, and an in- ternal process analogous to that of Neritina. Although the appellation given by Mr. Clark is a long one, it must in justice and on other grounds be preferred to either of those subsequently proposed by Dr. Grav, viz. Rissoellidte and Barleeiadce. In the svs- tern of the latter author these families are separated by Cuaplida and several others. The Heterophrosynidce are not restricted to the At- lantic Ocean : Dr. P. Carpenter has described some from the Pacific. They inhabit the laminarian zone, and ap- pear to be gregarious. * See vol. iii. p. 337. 56 HETEKOPHROSYNID^E. Genus I. BARLEE'IA*, Clark. PL I. f. 2. Body stout : snout gibbous : eyes placed on small bulgings outside the tentacles, at their bases. Shell solid and smooth : mouth oval, angulated above and below : operculum solid, ear-shaped, and gibbous, having the nucleus at the lower end of the inner side. Differing from Rissoa not only in the structure of the operculum, but also in the mantle and opercular lobe of the animal in the present genus being destitute of filaments. Barleeia rubral Montagu. Turbo ruber, Mont. Test. Br. p. 320. Rissoa rubra, F. & H. iii. p. 120, pi. Ixxviii. f. 4, 5. Body yellowish-white, often transversely brindled with smokecoloured lines : snout projecting beyond the foot, cloven in front, ileshcolour or pink on the upper part : tentacles club- shaped, sparingly setose in some specimens and smooth in others, marked internally down the middle by a brownish line, or speckled with yellow : eyes rather large and black, scarcely raised, sometimes encircled by a bright sulphurco- louredline : foot lanceolate, short, rounded in front and behind ; tail very slightly bifurcated : opercular lobe dark -purplish- brown. Shell forming a short cone, remarkably strong, semitrans- parent, and glossy: sculpture, apparently none, but under a good magnifier consisting of a few indistinct spiral striae : colour dark-red, claret, yellowish -brown, or tawny : spire bluntly pointed : whorls 5|, compressed, gradually enlarging ; the last occupies three-fifths of the spire : suture slight, having fre- quently a dark band below it on each whorl, caused by the double layer of shell in that part : mouth rather small : outer lip slightly incurved at the upper angle, thickened in full- grown specimens, and spread out at the base : inner lip re- flected on the pillar, and united with the outer lip, but not so as to form a distinct peristome : operculum dark- crimson, * Named in honour of the late George Barlee, Esq., a zealous and in- defatigable conchologist. t Red. BARLEEIA. 57 composed of 5 or 6 irregularly concentric portions, the marks of division or growth being obscure ; columellar side grooved near the margin, and having a corresponding rib under- neath. L. 0-125. B. 0-6. Yar. 1. unifdsciatd. Creamcolour or whitish, with a broad band of reddish -brown encircling each whorl, sometimes di- vided into two narrower zones. Turbo unifasciatus, Mont. Test. Br. p. 320 ; F. & H. pi. lxxx. f. 3. Var. 2. pallida. White, with a faint tinge of blush colour. Habitat : Seaweeds at low water in the Channel Isles, and on many parts of the coasts of Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall; Cork (Wright and J. G. J.); Bantry (Barlee and Norman); Connemara (Barlee and Alcock); Bundoran, co. Donegal (J. G. J.). The following re- quire confirmation : — Southampton (Montagu) ; Tenby (Lyons); Whitley, Northumberland (Fryer); Dublin Bay (Turton) ; Lamlash Bay, Bute (Landsborough) ; Dunbar (Laskey) ; Aberdeenshire (Macgillivray) . Both varieties occur with specimens of the usual colour. The foreign localities are Cherbourg and adjacent coast (Mace); Rochelle (D'Orbigny pere and J. G. J.) ; Biar- ritz (v. Martens, ^ 7 3. A. suprani'tida*, S. Wood. Albania si'pranitida, S. "Wood, Cat. Crag Moll. Aclis supranitida, F. & H. iii. p. 320, pi. xc. f. 2, 3. Body slender [" entirely white " (Hanley)] : head not beaked [not snout-shaped] : proboscis long, strong, and retractile : ten- tacles cylindrical, slender, somewhat inflated at the top, close together at the base [" subulate and truncated " (Hanley)] : eyes immersed at the base of the tentacles, and placed rather laterally [" placed far back, sessile, and rather distant " (Han- ley)] : foot having the "nientum" [or upper edge] somewhat detached, narrower than the sole, and extended [" tail simple and obtuse " (Hanley)] : opercular lobe ample, of a different shape on each side, being on the right larger and forming 3 or 4 folds, on the left produced into a single rounded lobe which is folded behind ; sole tongue -shaped, truncated in front : tongue unarmed ? (Loven.) Shell ten times greater in bulk than A. ascaris, and other- wise differing from that species in not being so slender, and in * Exceedingly glossy. 104 PYRAMIDELLID.E. having a much broader base ; it is distinctly and deeply um- bilicate in every stage of growth ; sometimes there are 5 ridges on each whorl, at other times 3 only on the body-whorl and 2 on each of the other whorls, occasionally none on the body- whorl and 2 or 3 on each of the upper ones, or else there are no ridges at all and the whole surface is quite smooth and glossy ; the suture is more deeply excavated, and nearly straight ; this species has 12 whorls, and the mouth is more round than oval. L. 0-25. B. 0*1. Habitat : Occasionally procured by dredging and trawling, as well as by examining drifted shell-sand, Aberdeenshire and the Hebrides (Dawson), Aberdeen (Macgillivray) , Blackpool (Kenyon), Belfast (Hynd- nian and Waller), Dublin Bay (J. G. J.), Bantry Bay (Miss Hutchings, fide Leach, and Hanley), Barmouth ( J. G. J.) , Tenby (Lyons and J. G. J.) , Langland Bay near Swansea (J.G. J.), Bude (Lindsay) , Land's End (Hockin), Falmouth (Cranch, fide Leach, and Hockin) , Plymouth (Prideaux, fide Leach, and J. G. J.), Hastings (Leach), and Guernsey (Hanley, Lukis, and J. G. J.). Coralline Crag (S.Wood). Bohuslan (Loven and Lilljeborg, and, in 12 f., Malm) ; Cattegat, 10-20 f. (Malm) ; Brittany (Tasle and Cailliaud); Yigo Bay,8f., and Madeira(M f An- drew); Gulf of Lyons (Martin); Algeria (Weinkauff). This shell is Brown's Turrit ell 'a minor, the type of which I examined in the collection of the late Mr. Lyons at Tenby ; but I certainly should not have recognized it by the description. That gives the length as -| of an inch, and the breadth "not an inch." The specific name minor is obsolete and very incorrect. It is apparently the Turritella nivea and T. nitida of Leach, and perhaps also his Alvania glabra (according to Wood) , and Alvania albella. Weinkauff described the present species in the ' Journal de Conchyliologie ' for 1862 as the Turritella umbilicata of Dunker. ACLIS. 105 4. A. Walle'ri*, Jeffreys. Shell forming an elongated cone, very thin, transparent, and lustrous : sculpture, none to the naked eye or with a low magnifying power, but under a Coddington lens may be de- tected a few faint and obscure spiral raised lines and very fine flexuous marks of growth: colour white: spire tapering to a blunt point, which is unmistakeably introverted : whorls 10, rather convex in the middle, with a slope above and below : suture deep and nearly straight : mouth roundish-oval, con- siderably dilated at the base : outer lip flexuous, prominent, and somewhat expanding : inner lip nearly straight, and re- flected at the base, apparently wanting on the upper part of the pillar, and therefore separate from the outer lip : umbilicus small but distinct : operculum filmy, wrinkled in the line of growth, composed of three turns, the last and outermost of which is disproportionately large ; the line of division between these whorls is raised or ledge-like. L. 0-135. B. 0-05. Habitat : East Shetland, 40-45 miles off the Whalsev Skerries, in 78 f., one live and three dead specimens. Coralline Crag, Sntton (coll. S. Wood in mus. Brit.), a single specimen, mixed with A. ascaris. Lilljeborg has dredged the present species off Molde in Norway, at a depth of 70 f. : and I found a specimen among some small shells procnrecl by Dr. Wallich in 1622 f.f, about 100 miles N.E. of Hamilton's Inlet, Labrador. All that I could see of the animal in the living Shet- land specimen were two black eyes, which were visible through the shell, as in Jeffrey sia and Eulima; it ap- peared to be in a dying or collapsed state. The abys- mal specimen from North America is much larger than any of those from the European seas and the Coralline Crag. The shell is distinguishable from A. supranitida bv being of a much smaller size (intermediate between * Named in honour of Edward Waller, Es.q., of Aughnacloy, co. Tyrone, an assiduous and good British conchologist. Perhaps the specific name ought, classically, to be VaUcri. t See vol, ii. pp. ix and x of the Introduction. F 5 106 PYRAMIDELLID.E. that of tlie latter species and of A. ascaris), thinner and of a more delicate texture, and exquisitely polished, having the whorls less convex, the outer lip more ex- panded, and the pillar-lip nearly straight and spread out at the base, and in the umbilicus being contracted. 5. A. Gulso'n^"^, Clark. Chemnitzia Guhonce, Clark in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 3rd ser. vi. p. 459. Odostomia Gulsoncs, F. & H. iv. (app.) p. 281, pi. cxxxii. f. 6. Body flake-white, with a faint tinge of yellow : mantle even with the shell : neck very long, cylindrical (like that of Odo- stomia spiralis), and finely wrinkled across ; the vertical fissure of the mouth lies under the tentacular membrane : tentacles thick, broad, short, not very membranous, rounded at the tips, each of which has a minute flake-white lobe or inflation ; they are united by an intermediate membrane : eyes black, not very near together, immersed close to the base of the tentacles, on minute white circles ; they do not in the least invade the area of the neck, but rather infringe on the tentacles : foot exceed- ingly short, narrow, deeply bifurcated in front, rounded be- hind when at rest, and a little lengthened in action ; the front edge (or mentum) is long, slender, grooved at the margin in front and on each side, the upper and lower surfaces being entire : opercidar lobe plain : liver light green : ovary very pale red, and granular : branchial plume narrow and curved, con- sisting of about 15-18 rather coarse, opaque, pale drab strands : heart and auricle intense snow-white. (Clark.) Shell slender, rather cylindrical than conical, very thin, transparent, and lustrous : sculpture, none : colour clear white : spire gradually tapering to a blunt and nearly globular point, which is decidedly introverted but not sinistral : whorls 6-7, convex: suture deep, rather oblique: mouth roundish-oval, having the outer base somewhat truncated and deeply sinuated or almost notched : outer lip remarkably flexuous, prominent, and expanding : inner (or pillar) lip short, nearly straight, and slightly reflected near the base, not united with the outer lip ; behind it is a slight depression and narrow chink, but no umbilicus [: operculum "«an almost invisible film, pear-shaped * Named out of compliment to Mrs. Grulson, a lady at Exmouth, to encourage her inclination for natural history. ODOSTOMIA. 107 or suboval, with a narrow border of pale bistre with a pinkish hue ; the stria? of increment radiate as in most of the other Chemnitzke" (Clark)]. L. 0-065. B. 0-025. Var. tenuicula. Comparatively diminutive, and more slender. Habitat : Coralline zone in Shetland and Skye (Bar- lee and J. G. J.) ; off Larue, co. Antrim (Hyndman and J. G. J.); Falmouth (Barlee and Hockin); Helford (Hockin) ; Fowey (Barlee) ; Exmouth (Clark and Bar- lee); Weymouth and Sandwich (J. G. J.); and Guern- sey (Barlee and J. G. J.). The variety, which may be the male, is from Lamlash Bay (Bean) ; L. Strangford (Waller); Land's End (Hockin); and Guernsey (J. G. J.). A. Gulsonce has been found by Mr. S. Wood in the Coralline Crag at Clacton, and dredged in Vigo Bay by Mr. M 'Andrew. It is rare. Mr. Clark noticed that the animal seldom protrudes its eyes and tentacles. He mentions " a rudimental denticle on the pillar-lip." I have minutely examined more than 20 specimens, but could not detect any such process. This and A. unica are aberrant forms of Aclis. Each has peculiar characters, which render their systematic allocation very difficult. Having suggested another generic name for A. unica, in the event of its being considered necessary to separate it from the present genus, I would also venture in the like contingency to propose the generic name of Menippe for A. Gulsonce. Genus II. ODOSTO'MIA * Fleming. PI. II. f. 5. Body usually slender : mantle plain-edged, somewhat folded on the right, so as to form a slight canal: snout (or head- flap) projecting beyond the foot : proboscis long, issuing from a slit just below the space in front between the tentacles ; it * Mouth of the shell furnished with a tooth ; per syncopen for Odon- tostomia. 1(38 PYRAMIDELLID.E. is only evolved when feeding : tentacles triangular and folded inwards (not unlike an ass's ears), united at their base by an intermediate membrane ; tips bulbous and ciliated : eyes im- mersed in the skin or outer integument, and placed on the neck a little behind the tentacles. Shell forming a cone of various lengths : spire having the first or top whorls sinistral and turned backwards : mouth ex- panding at the base : inner Up very rarely united with the outer lip : pillar usually straight and furnished in the middle with a single tooth or plait : operculum semitestaceous, having a thin flap on the outer side and a short apophysis or process underneath the nucleus of the spire. The name and limits of this peculiar genus have been the subject of much controversy. The history of its name is as follows. In the Supple- ment to the 4th, 5th, and 6th editions of the ' Encyclo- paedia Britannica' (published at intervals between 1818 and 1824) will be found the article a Conchology," by Dr. Fleming. The genus Odostomia is there described as consisting of certain species of marine shells, placed by British writers in the genus Turbo, in which the columella is furnished with a tooth. " The Turbo inter - stincta, unidentata, plicata, Sandivicensis, and insculpta of Montagu are of this genus." This article was sepa- rately republished, with plates, in 1837. Fleming's i Philosophy of Zoology ' (1822) enumerates Odostomia as one of the genera of the " marine Turbonidce ; " and it is therefore most probable that the number of the Encyclopaedia which contained the article " Concho- logy " had then appeared. In 1862 Risso (Hist. Nat. TEur. mer. iv. p. 224) formed the genus Turbonilla, on the MS. authority of Leach, for three fossil species; all are described as longitudinally ribbed, and one of them furnished with a fold. In Turton's ' Enumeration of Marine Shells found on the Devonshire coast ' (1829) Odontostoma was proposed by him as the generic name, ODOSTOMIA. 109 and is thus characterized : " Shell conic oval ; pillar with a single tooth or fold towards the middle ; operculum none. Includes Turbo unidentatus and others/' This description, in respect of the absence of an operculum, is obviously wrong. Fleming's ' History of British Animals ' (1828) gave a more correct definition of the present genus. The 7th volume of the ' Edinburgh En- cyclopaedia ' (1830), under the head " Conchology," has full descriptions of the genus Odostomia and of the above- named species of Montagu ; but Pupa and other land- shells are bv some mistake confounded with them. m Alcide D'Orbigny's account of the Mollusca, in the Supplement to Barker-Webb and Berthelot's Natural History of the Canary Isles (1839 or 1840), gives Chem- nitzia as a subgenus of Melania ; it is inadequately de- fined, the animal being described as " inconnu," and the shell as intermediate between Eulima and Bonellia or Niso. The Turbo elegantissimus of Montagu (T. lac- teus, L.) is the sole type of D'Orbigny's subgenus. Much more precise and accurate, however, was the de- finition by the Rev. R. T. Lowe, in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1840, of his genus Par- thenia, which corresponds with Chemnitzia. Three more synonyms are Pyrgiscus, Philippi (\Yiegin ami's Archiv, 1841), Orthostelis, Aradas and Maggiore (Atti Accad. Gioenia, 1841), and Loxonema, Phillips (Palaeoz. Foss. Cornwall, 1841) ; to which may be added, in part, Ja- minia of Brown (not of Leach or Risso), Turbonella of Leach, and for certain species Eulimella of Forbes, and Auriculbia of Gray. Clark proposed, but never pub- lished, the significant name Monoptaxis for the whole group of species. It is evident that the generic name Odostomia is prior to all the others which I have enume- rated ; and I am inclined to think that the definition 110 PYRAMIDELLID.E. given by its founder was sufficient. At all events that name is universally recognized. The next question is, what are the limits of this genus ? i. e. do the species furnished with a tooth (whatever may be their sculpture) belong to Odostomia, the ribbed species without a tooth to Turbonilla or Chemnitzia, and the smooth and toothless species to Eulimella ? I can- not admit any such distinction ; nor can I draw a line between Odostomia and Chemnitzia, or between either of them and Eulimella. I have detected the tooth in several so-called species of Chemnitzia, e. g. fenestrata, lactea (or elegantissima) , pusilla, and gracilis; Philippi described his C. densecostata as having the aperture " superne subplicata ; >J and Clark observed in a speci- men of 0. acicula [Eulimella acicula, F. & H.) " a de- cided pillar-fold." This last observation I will confirm. Every naturalist is aware that a generic character which pervades the species taken as a whole may not be pos- sessed by all of them. In the present case there are other characters that serve as ties of union ; and not a single character can be found to distinguish any one of the three supposed genera from its allies. The group of shells now under consideration — call it a single genus or a collection of genera — appears to be intimately related to Aclis on one side, and less closely on the other side to Ianthina, which leads through Sti- lifer to Eulima. Montagu suggested the conchological affinity of 0. spiralis and other species to Tornatella (or Actceon) — a view that has been lately advocated by A. Adams, Clark, and Morch on malacological grounds. But that genus has not a retractile proboscis, nor is the apex of its shell either reversed or inverted; and the operculum is constructed on a different plan from that of Odostomia. Their lingual ribands are also very ODOSTOMIA. Ill distinct, although this may depend on the nature of their food. For our knowledge of the animal we are mainly in- debted to Professor Loven, Mr. Clark, and Mr. Alder. An admirable paper by the first of these writers, on the genus Turbonitta of Leach (Kongl. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 1846), illustrated by figures of the animal, shell, and operculum, forms the groundwork, and is especially de- serving of careful study. Mr. Clark has supplied us with elaborate details of many species. Although he exalted the science of malacology as the only method of natural classification, he could not help remarking on the singular sameness of his descriptions, and admitted that "indeed it is difficult to divest oneself of the idea that all of them appertain to the same animal " *. Sometimes his power of observation with the microscope must have been more acute than at other times. I can- not otherwise account for his stating that the tentacles of several species which he described are " setose " or " setaceous." This is but partially the case ; and the following account by Mr. Alder of a remarkable pecu- liarity of the structure of the animal will probably explain Mr. Clark's meaning. " There exists near the apex of each ear-shaped tentacle, just within the inner margin, a circular area or lobe, set with strong vibratile cilia, which are in constant motion during the life of the animal, giving that part the appearance of a revolv- ing wheel, while no cilia are to be found on the other part of the tentacle, except a few rigid, immoveable setae at the apex. In one species, 0. Eulimoides [0. pallida], I have observed the vibratile cilia to extend in a line from the disk down the centre of the tentacle, but con- fined to a very limited space. These ciliated disks are * Ann. & Mag. N. H. Dec. 1850. 112 PYRAMIDELLID.E. very curious, and no doubt indicate the seat of a parti- cular function ; probably they are a modification of the organs of smelling. They have not been observed in other genera." The snout (" mentum " or chin, Loven) corresponds in position with the head of a Rissoa, but has a different office. It is like the snout of a pig; useful for finding food, not for eating it. The head of an Odostomia occupies the central space between the tentacles in front ; it consists of a true proboscis, which is protruded only now and then, and appears to be suc- torial. There are no jaws or spiny tongue. Some species of Odostomia, particularly those of the typical kind, inhabit the coasts at low-water mark, lurking beneath loose stones, and at the base of Corallina offici- nalis and small seaweeds in rock-pools ; others are found in the laminarian zone ; a few occur in deep water, beyond the range of vegetable life. In all probability they subsist on polyparia and other animal substances of a soft nature, because the tongue or lingual riband is edentulous. I think M. Petit must have been mistaken in saying (Journ. Conch, viii. p. 250) that they live on seaweeds. Two of our most common species (0. pallida and 0. unidentata) are frequently met with on the " ears " of living Pecten maximus and P. operculums ; and, from their habitual proximity to the excretory pas- sage of the scallop, it may not be unreasonable to infer that they subsist on its faeces. Mr. Norman was of opinion that specimens of 0. pallida, which he dredged in the Firth of Clyde, fed on a red sponge (Halichrondria /armaria, Bowerbank) that occasionally covers P. oper- cularis. I have often taken specimens from the ears or wings of scallops which had no such incrustation. The shell is usually white ; but a few species are banded with reddish-brow T n, or tinged more or less deeply with that ODOSTOMIA. 113 colour. The inversion of the apex was first pointed out by Montagu. That this part of the spire is likewise sinistral, or turns to the left hand instead of to the right, has been since ascertained, and is a still more anomalous fact : it is a good and constant feature of the genus. Owing to the species being generally so prolific and widely diffused, it is excessively difficult to define their exact limits, and to sav which forms are specific and which varietal. I endeavoured to perform this undertaking in a monograph which was inserted between eighteen and nineteen years ago in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History/ With the aid of subsequent experience and greater opportunities of com- parison, I will now revise my work, professing (and indeed intending, so far as human nature permits) to treat my own discoveries with a share of justice not less rigorous than that which I measure out to my brother conchologists. I have no ambition to be a species- maker, much less have I any desire to invite that appel- lation. I will do my best, by descriptions and figures, to help collectors in making out what I consider true species. But I must at the same time confess having been not seldom puzzled by intermediate forms; when 1 almost fancied that these paradoxical lines in the ' Passionate Pilgrim } had reference to my perplexity: — " Keason, in itself confounded, Saw division grow together ; To themselves yet either neither, Simple were so well compounded ; That it cry'd, how true a twain, Seemeth this concordant one." To show how other conchologists have failed in deter- mining certain species, let me instance O.plicata, Mont. Macgillivray mistook for it a worn 0. spiralis, S. Wood 114 PYRAMIDELLID^:. and Loven 0. conoidea, and Malm 0. albella. Again, Turbo unidentatus of Montagu is a different species of Odostomia from T. unidentatus of Turton, as well as from 0. unidentata of Fleming, while the shell described by Hanley, in ' British Marine Conchology/ as the last- named species, does not agree with any of the above. But, as I ask forbearance for my own faults, iEquum est Peccatis veniam poscentein reddere rursus. The geographical distribution of the species is very extensive. Many species in public and private collec- tions are undescribed, and an infinitely greater number remains undiscovered in the South Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Pacific Oceans, notwithstanding the la- bours of Philippi, A. Adams, PfeifFer, C. B. Adams, Gould, Stimpson, P. P. Carpenter and others. Pew species have been detected in the arctic seas ; and they are equally rare in glacial deposits. The geological re- lations of the genus have not been sufficiently inves- tigated. The European species were placed by writers of the Linnean school in Turbo, Helix, and Voluta ; by the followers of Lamarck they were assigned to Eulima, Melania, Turrit ella, Phasianella, and Rissoa. The following synopsis may be useful for the more easy discrimination of our native species : — A. Oval or oblong, smooth, spirally striated, or (rarely) reti- culated ; pillar slightly curved, and invariably furnished with a tooth. (Typical.) 1. minima', 2. nivosa ; S.trun- catula ; 4. clavula ; 5. Lukisi ; 6. albella ; 7. rissoides ; 8. pallida ; 9. conoidea; 10. umb Hi caris ; 11. acuta; 12. conspicua ; 13. unidentata ; 14. turrita ; 15,plieata; 16. inseulpta; 17 '. diaphana ; 18. obi i qua ; 19. doliol if ormis ; 20. decussata. B. Elongated, longitudinally ribbed, or reticulated ; pillar ODOSTOMIA. 115 straight, and seldom furnished with a tooth. (Turbonilla or Chemnitzia.) 21. clathrata ; 22. indistincta ; 23. in- terstincta ; 24. spiralis ; 25. eximia ; 26. fenestrata ; 27. excavata ; 28. scalaris ; 29. r?t/w; 30. ?«rtra ; dl.pusilla. C. Elongated, smooth and polished ; pillar straight, very rarely furnished with a tooth. (Eulimella.) 32. Scillce-, 33. acicula : 34. nitidissima. A. Typical. 1. Odostomia mi'nima"*, Jeffreys. 0. minima, Jeffr. in Ami. & Mag. 1ST. H. 3rd ser. i. p. 45, pi. ii. f. 3. Shell forming an oblong cone, very thin, transparent and lustrous : sculpture, a few slight longitudinal wavy striae : colour clear white : spire gradually tapering to a blunt, nearly globular, and inverted point : whorls 4-5, convex ; the last is proportionally broader than the next, and exceeds in length the rest of the spire when the shell is placed with its mouth upper- most : suture deep, scarcely oblique : mouth exactly oval, slightly expanded but entire at the base ; it occupies nearly one-third of the shell : outer lip somewhat flexuous, but neither prominent nor expanded : inner lip thin, adhering to the upper slope of the base and slightly reflected below ; it is united with the outer lip so as to form a continuous but indistinct peri- stome : umbilicus small and narrow : tooth or fold slight and seldom visible : operculum pale yellow, delicately striated in the line of growth ; spire consisting of 2-3 whorls. L. 0*05. B. 0-025. Habitat : Living on decayed fronds and at the base of LaminaricB, procured by grappling just beyond low- Avater mark, in Lerwick Sound, and at Kyleakin in Skye (Bar lee) ; dead in Shetland and the Hebrides, 50-60 f. (J. G-. J.) ; St. Mawes, Falmouth (Hockin) ; in dredged sand from Guernsey (Waller) . It either is rare or from its minuteness has escaped observation. This is the shell noticed by Forbes and Hanley in the Appendix to their work (p. 282) as allied to Aclis Gul- * Smallest. 116 PYRAMIDELLIDiE. sonce. From that shell it is distinguishable by its smaller size, conical rather than cylindrical shape, having fewer whorls and flexuous striae, and especially in the month being entire instead of notched at the base, and in the outer lip not being expanded nor united with the inner lip. It is the smallest known species of Odostomia. The Chemnitzia minima of Homes, from the miocene formation near Vienna, is different from this. 2. O. nivo'sa"*, Montagu. Turbo nivosus, Mont. Test. Br. (ii.) p. 326. 0. cylindrica, F. & H. iii. p. 287, pi. xcvi. f. 7. Shell forming a cylindrical cone, not very thin, transparent and glossy : sculpture, 2 or 3 narrow spiral ridges on the peri- phery, and a single stronger one immediately below the suture of each whorl, besides close-set and extremely fine but obscure flexuous stria? in a longitudinal direction ; one of the spiral ridges usually encircles the base of each upper whorl ; under a microscope the whole surface appears more or less covered with numerous indistinct fine spiral lines : colour white, with occasionally a slight fulvous tint : spire tapering to an abrupt rounded and inverted point, the apex being sunk or involved in the extremity of the spire: whorls 4-5, somewhat com- pressed ; the last exceeds all the rest in length and bulk : suture rather deep, distinctly marked by the uppermost spiral ridge : mouth oval, much narrower above than below, where it is expanded ; it is scarcely equal in length to one-fourth of the spire : outer lip flexuous, inflected and contracted at the upper part : inner lip not very thin, adhering to the pillar, slightly reflected over the base, and occasionally united with the outer lip : umbilicus none ; but a narrow chink may be observed in aged specimens : tooth small, usually concealed behind the pillar: operculum yellowish, strongly striated or furrowed in the line of growth, the striae being more close-set and flexuous towards the outer side; spire very short and nearly terminal. L. 0-0625. B. 0-0325. Habitat : The lower part of the littoral zone, and the * Snowy, for snow-white ; properly nivea. ODOSTOMIA. 117 upper part of the laminarian zone, in the Channel Isles and south of England; Ilfracombe, and Kilkee in the west of Ireland (Alder); Cork and co. Antrim (J. G. J.); Dublin Bay (B. W. Adams) ; Scarborough (Bean) ; Clyde district (Norman, Bean, and Robertson) ; Skye (Barlee) ; outer Hebrides (J. G. J.) ; Aberdeenshire (Macgillivray) ; Dunnet Bay, Pentland Firth (Gordon); Cruden in the Moray Firth, and Hillswick Bay in Unst (Dawson); Lerwick (Barlee). Specimens from the last two places are larger than any of those from our southern coasts. Montagu's type, with " nivosus " in his hand-writing, is still preserved in the British Museum; and his de- scription confirms its identity with the present species. Alder described and figured this shell as 0. cylindrica. Macgillivray gave it another name (Anna) in honour of one of his daughters. It reminds one of Dr. Johnston's review of the Professor's " Historv of the Molluscous Animals of the counties of Aberdeen, Kincardine, and Banff" (Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1843), in which the fre- quent mention of his children by the author is noticed in a good-natured way, concluding with a fervent " God bless them ! " 3. O. trunca'tula * } Jeffreys. 0. truncatula, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 2nd ser. v. p. 109 ; F. & H. p. 294, pi. xcvi. f. 8. Shell having a considerable resemblance to 0. nivosa in shape ; but it is of a far greater size, proportionally much thinner, and of a more delicate texture ; it has no spiral ridges at the base, nor the peculiar single one at the toj> of each whorl, although the whole surface of the present species is more or less covered obscurely with remote spiral lines ; the longitudinal striae are stronger and impart sometimes a * Slightly lopped or cut off. 118 PYRAMIDELLID.E. puckered appearance to the upper part of each whorl ; the colour is often yellowish in fresh specimens ; the whorls are 6 or 7, and flatter or more compressed than in 0. nivosa ; the suture is channelled, and gives a turreted aspect to the spire ; the mouth is longer in proportion to its breadth ; the outer lip is emarginate or notched near its junction with the body-whorl; the tooth is plait-like or twisted ; and the operculum is con- spicuously striated. L. 0-175. B. 0*065. Habitat : Among trawl-refuse from Plymouth (Bar- lee and Jordan), and Falmouth (Miss Vigurs, fide Cocks) ; dredged in St. Mawe's Creek, near Falmouth (Hockin) , and in 20 f. on the Turbot-bank, near Larne, co. Antrim (J. G. J.). The proportion of length to breadth varies con- siderably in the Plymouth specimens. Mr. Clark called this a variety of the last species. But each has its own characters, and I have not yet seen any connecting link ; the difference of size also, considered with regard to the habitat (see vol. iii. p. 27), would disincline me to unite these species. The present species is in shape not un- like the young of Truncatella truncatula. 4. O. clavula*, Loven. Turbonilla clavula, Lov. Ind. Moll. Scand. p. 18. Eulimella clavula, F. & H. iii. p. 314, pi. xcviii. f. 8. Body clear frosted-white : neck greatly protruded, showing on the mouth a canal or groove bounded by two parallel lon- gitudinal lines : snout very narrow, not grooved nor bilobed, but rounded at the extremity [rounded, bilobed (Loven)], carried just before the foot: tentacles extraordinarily short and broad [mutually connected in front, and vibrating very actively (Loven)J, swelling out behind like a minute leaf; they are not divergent, but borne straight and close together ; each termi- nates in two white inflations, viz. one quite apical, and the other immediately below it, both being nearly semicircular and as if soldered to the external sides of the points or tips : eyes * A twig ; more correctly clavulus, a small nail ? ODOSTOMIA. 119 at the inner bases of the tentacles, not very close together : foot flexible, more or less concave in front, with longish au- ricles, below which it is gradually constricted ; the margins are thin, and often folded upwards ; it is either bluntly or sharply pointed behind ; when the animal is in motion there is on each side of the foot a marginal series of about eight very minute glossy points. Animal very active and free. (Clark.) Shell nearly cylindrical, with a rounded and produced base, thin, transparent and polished : sculpture, extremely fine and close-set longitudinal striae, which can only be detected by the aid of the microscope and in certain lights : colour clear white : spire turreted, and apparently truncated at the point, which is rounded and inverted : whorls 4-5, rather convex, although compressed and gradually enlarging ; the last two are almost equal in breadth, and the body-whorl somewhat exceeds in length the rest of the spire : suture nearly straight, slightly channelled above ; it is defined on the under side by a narrow rim, arising from the double layer of shell in that part, the upper edge of the lower whorl being soldered on the peri- phery of the preceding whorl : mouth oval, expanded below ; it occupies about one-third of the shell : outer lip rounded but not prominent, contracted and somewhat sharply inflated above, just below the periphery: inner lip not perceptible on the upper slope of the base, slightly reflected and but little curved below: umbilicus very small and narrow, but distinct: tooth or fold inconspicuous or scarcely discernible : operculum thin, finely striated. L. 0-08. B. 0-04. Habitat : Dredged off Teignmouth (Clark) ; Torbay (Battersby and J. G. J.) ; Brixham (Hanley) ; Ply- mouth (Barlee) ; other parts of south Devon (Webster); Hebrides (Barlee and J. G. J.). It is rare, and occurs in muddy sand, between 6 and 50 f. Loven discovered it on the coast of Sweden, in mud, among Pennatulae, at a depth of 30 f. On reexamining his description and a specimen with which he favoured me, I observe that the whorls are more convex, and the suture consequently deeper, than in our shell ; but such characters perhaps vary in this as they do in other species of Odostomia. 120 PYRAMIDELLIDzE. 5. O. Lu'kisi*, Jeffreys. 0. LuJcisi, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 3rd ser. iii. p. 112, pi. iii. f. 19 a, b. Shell nearly cylindrical, solid, opaque, glossy : sculpture, only very slight and almost microscopical scratch-like longi- tudinal stria? : colour ivory-white : spire abruptly terminating : whorls 5-6, convex, compact, gradually enlarging : the penul- timate one projects a little, and is nearly as broad as the last, which occupies about three-fifths of the shell: suture rather deep : mouth oval, contracted above and expanded below, some- what exceeding in length one-third of the spire ; throat quite smooth : outer lip incurved on the periphery : inner lip thickened and spread on the pillar, joining the outer lip at the upper corner of the mouth, and slightly reflected on the lower side : umbilicus small but distinct : tooth small, prominent, and placed opposite the umbilicus : operculum yellowish, with a white streak in the line of the spire, very slightly striated across ; flap broad ; there is the same groove and corresponding ridge as in 0. cono'idea. L. 0*1. B. 0-045. Habitat : Guernsey, 18-20 f., dead, and Lulworth, 10-12 f., living (J. G. J.) ; among seaweeds at low- water mark on the south Devon coast, living (Webster); Cornwall (Hockin) ; Dogger bank (J. G. J.) ; Bun- doran, co. Donegal, in drift shell-sand (Waller) ; Oban, dredged in 20-25 f. (M'Kenzie) ; Skye and Shetland (Barlee and J. G. J.). This shell is remarkable for its ivory whiteness and solidity, in which respects it agrees with O. cono'idea ; but that species has a more or less distinct peripheral keel, the suture is not so deep, and the throat or inside of the outer lip is invariably grooved, like the barrel of a rifle. Should the latter, however, prove not to be a permanent character, this species may be regarded as a sublittoral variety of 0. cono'idea. The umbilicus is de- veloped in the adult only of the present species. From * Named in honour of the late Dr. F. C. Lukis, an excellent naturalist at Guernsey. ODOSTOMIA. 121 the next species (0. albella) this differs in colour, tex- ture, abrupt termination of the spire, greater convexity of the whorls, contraction of the outer lip, the presence of an umbilicus, and prominence of the tooth. 6. O. albel'la*, Loven. Turbonilla albella, Lov. Ind. Moll. Scand. p. 19. 0. rissoides, var. (pro- visionally), F. & H. iii. p. 286, pi. xcvi. f. 5. Body creanicolour, streaked with sulphur, sometimes clear white, gelatinous, and of a granular texture under a high magnifying-power : snout or mentum narrow, not always ex- tended beyond the foot : tentacles leaf-like, rather short and thick : eyes small, placed close together : foot short, squarish in front, narrow or constricted in the middle, broader and bluntly pointed behind ; sole edged with yellow. Shell cylindro- conical, rather thin, semitransparent, and of a dullish hue : sculpture, as in 0. rissoides ; the young exhibit faint spiral striae under a microscope : colour pale yellowish-white, variegated in fresh specimens by reddish- brown blotches on the upper part, which represent the dried remains of the animal : spire tapering to a blunt point ; the apex shows distinctly the reversed and inverted embryonic nucleus : ivhorls 5-6, rounded but somewhat compressed, gradually enlarging ; the last occupies about three-fifths of the shell : suture shallow but incised ; below it each whorl appears encircled by a narrow band, as in 0. rissoides : mouth oval, contracted on the outer side, slightly expanded and ob- tusely angulated at the base ; it usually equals in length one- third of the spire : outer lip slightly curved : inner lip not much spread on the pillar, nor united above with the outer lip, thickened and slightly reflected on the lower side : umbi- licus none, although there is sometimes a narrow chink behind the inner lip : tooth small, retired and nearly hidden within the pillar : operculum yellowish, marked with white down the spire, finely and deeply striated in the line of growth, the striae becoming very close towards the nucleus ; flap not stri- ated ; groove and ridge as in 0. conoklea ; spire very short, indistinct, and nearly terminal. L. 0-11 o. B. 0-05. Habitat : Underneath loose stones at low-water mark * Whitish ; properly albv.la. VOL. IV. G 122 PYRAMIDELLID/E. and in the laminarian zone, on various parts of our coast from Guernsey to Shetland. Fossil in the boulder-clay of Caithness (Peach), and at Uddevalla, 40 feet above the sea-level (Malm) ; post-glacial shell-bank at Kir- koen, Norway, 50 feet (Sars, as O. plicata, Malm). Living in Norway (M f Andrew, Sars, and others), Sweden (Loven and Malm), coasts of Denmark (mus. Copenh.), La Hougue Bay, near Cherbourg (Mace), Loire-Infe- rieure (Cailliaud), Sardinia (Yerany) ; Cailliaud gives the laminarian zone, Sars 10-40 f., and Danielssen 30-40 f. as the range of depth. In Shetland and the Hebrides it lives between tide- marks in company with Rissoa striata and R. cingillus ; it floats in a supine position, like its neighbours. At Guernsey and Filey I found this species in the same spot as O. rissoides. When scalded, the colour of the animal becomes bright orange. Owing to Mr. Clark having included in his description not only the present species, but also O. rissoides and pallida, with their varieties, I have been unable to make any use of it, and therefore rely on my own notes as to the soft parts. 7. O. rissoi'des *j Hanley. O rissoides, Hani, in Proc. Zool. Soc. pt. xii. p. 18 ; F. & H. iii. p. 284, pi. xcvi. f. 4, and xciv. f. 7 (as O. nitida, var. ?). Shell conic-oblong inclining to oval, thin, transparent, and glossy: sculpture, microscopical only, and consisting of very fine and numerous, but irregular and scratch-like stria? in the line of growth, besides still finer and less distinct spiral striae : colour pale yellowish -white or whitish: spire turreted, and taperiug to a blunt point ; the nucleus is concealed : ivhorls 5, convex, rapidly enlarging ; the last occupies two-thirds of the shell : suture rather deep ; in living or fresh specimens the dark spiral band noticed in other species is observable below the suture on the top of each whorl : mouth regularly oval, * Having the aspect of a Iiitsoa. ODOSTOMIA. 123 not much expanded nor at all angulated below ; it usually equals in length two-fifths (sometimes nearly one-half) of the spire : outer lip curved and rather prominent : inner Up very slight on the upper part, forming a mere film on the pillar, thickened and somewhat reflected on the lower part: umbilicus usually none, although in specimens which have a short spire there is a more or less developed chink or indentation : tooth small and partly concealed: operculum like that of 0. albella. L. 0-125. B. 0-0625. Yar. 1. alba. Thinner; spire produced; suture deeper and more oblique ; umbilical chink very distinct. 0. alba, Jeflr. in Ann. & Mag. jS". H. 2nd ser. ii. p. 337, and 3rd ser. iii. pi. iii. f. 20, a, b. Yar. 2. nitida. Whorls more ventricose, and umbilicus distinct. 0. nitida, Alder, in Ann. & Mag. IS". H. xiii. p. o26, pi. viii. f. 5 ; F. & H. iii. p. 280, pi. xciv. f. 6. Yar. 3. glabrata. Nearly oblong ; nucleus of spire exposed and mammillary ; suture deep. O. glabrata, F. & H. iii. p. 233, pi. xcviii. f. 3 (not Helix glabrata of v. Miihlfeld, nor Rissoa glabrata — afterwards punctulum — of Philippi) . Yar. 4. dubia. Oval, and of a more solid consistency ; body- whorl longer than usual ; umbilical chink distinct ; tooth stronger and rather more conspicuous. O. dubia, Jefir. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 3rd ser. ii. p. 338. Yar. 5. exilis. Smaller and more slender; spire elongated, and suture slight. Habitat : The lower part of the littoral zone and throughout the laminarian zone, on all our coasts. Yar. 1. Oxwich Bay near Swansea, Guernsey, Skye, and Shetland (J. G. J.) ; Sark (Baiiee) ; South Devon (Webster); co. Antrim (Waller). Var. 2. Shetland (Barlee) ; South Devon (Webster) . Var. 3. Tynemouth (Alder) . Var. 4. Lower part of the laminarian zone in many places. Var. 5. South Devon (Webster). The foreign localities are Bohuslan (Loven, in mus. Stockh.) and 15-30 f. (Malm, as O. albella) ; Danish coasts (mus. Copenh.) ; Etretat (J. G. J.) ; Morbihan (Tasle) ; Loire- g2 124 PYRAMIDELLID.E. Inferieure (Cailliaud) ; Spezzia (J. G. J.) ; and Algiers (Weinkauff) . Tliis is a common and therefore variable species. It may be recognized, in comparison with 0. albelia, by its more oval and less cylindrical shape, its usually thinner texture and greater lustre, more convex whorls, deeper suture, and having the mouth rounded and never angu- lated at the base ; the last whorl is larger in proportion to the rest. Shetland specimens are very fine. Scalari- form and stunted distortions sometimes occur. Macgillivray described it as 0. scalaris, which specific name would be entitled to priority, if Philippi had not used it for another well-known species. It is apparently the Rissoa glabra of Brown, and Turbonella transparens of Leach. The fry is probably Helix resupinata of Montagu, from Walker's figure 24. 8. O. pal'lida *, Montagu. Turbo pallidus, Mont. Test. Br. (ii.) p. 325, t. 21. f. 4. 0. eulimoides, F. & H. iii. p. 273, pi. xcv. f. 1-3. Body white, covered with minute yellow specks : snout narrow, expanded and rounded in front, marked down each side with a pale-yellow line : tentacles bevelled and pointed like an awl ; each has also a yellow longitudinal line ; tips inflated and white : eyes placed somewhat apart : foot short, truncated, and slightly notched in front, where it is indistinctly auricled at each corner, terminating behind in an abrupt and short point. Shell somewhat spindle-shaped, in consequence of the elongation and angularity of the base, rather solid, nearly opaque, and moderately glossy: sculpture, fine and close-set microscopical spiral striae ; these may be detected with a lens of ordinary power : colour milk-white, with a faint orange or purplish tinge on the upper part of five specimens, derived from that of the liver; immature specimens are often yel- lowish : spire finely and regularly tapering to a blunt point ; * Pale. ODOSTOMIA. 1.25 nucleus concealed : whorh 6-7, rather compressed, rapidly en- larging ; the last occupies nearly two-thirds of the shell : suture more or less oblique, not deep, but distinct ; the marginal band is observable in young specimens only : mouth more oblong than oval, contracted above, considerably expanded and angulated below ; its length is about three-sevenths of the whole spire : outer lip gently curved, not very prominent : inner lip very slight on the upper part, forming a mere film on the pillar, thickened and decidedly reflected on the lower part, where it is nearly straight : umbilicus none ; the chink, when it exists, is extremely narrow or small : tooth strong, partly concealed ; it is (as usual) placed on the pillar in the middle of the inner lip, just where the reflexion of the latter commences : oper- culum as in the last two species ; the ridge is well marked, and the striation very distinct. L. 0*2. B. 0*1. Var. 1. crassa. Smaller and thicker; some of the spiral striae confluent and forming elevated ridges. 0. crassa, Thomp- son, in Ann. & Mag. N. H. xv. p. 315, pi. xix. f. 5. Var. 2. notata. Whorls more convex ; spiral striae more con- spicuous. 0. notata, Jeffr. op. cit. 2nd ser. ii. p. 336. Var. 3. angusta. Thinner and more slender. Jeffr. op. cit. 3rd ser. iii. pi. iii. f. 18, a, b. Monstr. Cylindrical, with flattened whorls ; or having the spire turreted. Habitat : Chiefly (if not only) on the ears of Pecten opercularis and P. maximus, in the coralline zone \ it is widely distributed and rather common. The trawl- refuse at Plymouth and Brixham is especially produc- tive of this shell. Var. 1. Birterbuy Bay, Connemara (M'Calla, fide Thompson, and Barlee); Torquay (Han- ley). Var. 2, Five miles east of Lerwick, in 40 f. (J. G. J.) ; a single specimen. Var. 3. Several places from Guernsey to Shetland, but rare ; a specimen of this last variety is nearly a quarter, of an inch long, and not a line in breadth. The monstrosities were dredged by Mr. Barlee in Birterbuy Bay. Fossil at Belfast, in a newer pliocene deposit (Grainger) ; Clyde beds (Cross- 126 PYRAMIDELLIDiE. key) . Recent : Mangerfiord (Sars) ; upper Norway, 15-70 f. (M f Andrew and Barrett, as O.plicata) ; Bohus- lan, and tlie variety crassa on Pecten maximus (Loven) ; Gottenburg, 12-20 f. (Malm); coasts of Denmark (mus. Copenhagen) ; Loire-Inferieure (Cailliand) ; Arcachon (Fischer, as 0. conoidea); Vigo (M'Andrew); Gulf of Lyons (Martin); Nice (Mace); Spezzia (J. G. J.); Dal- matia (Brusina, as 0. Novegradensis) . The variety an- gusta has been dredged by M. Jean Susini at Ajaccio. Differs from 0. rissoides in its larger size, solid tex- ture, and milk-white colour ; the spire is more tapering, and the base is pointed or angulated ; the whorls are not so convex ; and the mouth is considerably expanded below the pillar, where the inner lip becomes nearly straight, instead of being curved as in that species. I have no doubt that this was Montagu's Turbo pal- lidums , judging from his detailed description and figure : although he at first says that the pillar-lip is " destitute of any tooth/' in the Supplement to his work (p. 133) he expressly notices the " ridge or lengthened denticle on the columella " of that shell, as well as of 0. spiralis, unidentata, interstincta, and plicata. But the specimen now in the British Museum, which has the name "pali- dus" in Montagu's handwriting affixed to the under side of the tablet, is a broken and worn Rissoa parva, var. interrupta. It is unfortunately too probable that when Dr. Leach rearranged this part of the national collection, sufficient care was not taken to preserve the identical specimens which had belonged to the first- named excellent zoologist, and that in the present case the type may have been lost, and replaced by the wretched substitute now on the museum tablet. It is the Voluta ambigua of Maton and Backett, Turbo unidentatus of Turton (not of Montagu), 0. unidentata ODOSTOMIA. 127 of Fleming and Macgillivray, 0. Eulimoides of Hanley, and Turbonilla oscitans of Loven. The variety crassa seems to be Brown's Jaminia pullus. 9. O. conoi'dea*, Brocchi. Turbo conoideus, Brocchi, Conch. Foss. Subap. ii. p. 659, t. xvi. f. 2. 0. conoidea, F. & H. iii. p. 260, pi. xcv. f. 4. Body clear bluish- white throughout, with faint streaks of flake-white : snout or mentum grooved lengthwise and cloven at the extremity, so as to form a lobe on each side, divided by a narrow depressed line, and resembling a second pair of ten- tacles : proboscis issuing at the termination of the groove close under the eyes and below the centre of the tentacular veil : tentacles flat, bevelled, not very short (" slightly setose," Clark); tips moderately large, rounded, inflated, and flake-white : eyes very black, situated exactly at the internal bases of the ten- tacles, immersed in the skin, so close to each other that a hair can scarcely be laid between them ("I never saw the eyes so contiguous in any other mollusk," Clark) : foot large, rather long, membranous, gently reflected at the sides on itself (which reflexion it in some measure retains on* the march), deeply arched in front, causing the flanks to be pointed, and gradually tapering behind to a bluntly angular point ; sole slit in the middle in front. (Loven, Clark, and J. G. J.) Shell oblong-conical, with a narrow and somewhat pointed base, solid, nearly opaque, of a polished lustre : sculpture, the usual microscopical lines of growth, besides a slight impressed line round the periphery, which is more or less distinctly keeled, especially in young or immature specimens : colour ivory- white : spire tapering to an abrupt extremity ; nucleus con- cealed and twisted inwards : ivhorls 8, nearly flat, and gradually enlarging ; the last constitutes about one-half of the shell : suture narrow and slightly channelled ; it slopes downwards from the peripheral keel on each of the upper whorls : mouth oval, contracted above, somewhat expanded but scarcely an- gular below : its length is about one-third of the whole spire : outer lip gently curved, inflected just below the periphery ; inside deeply grooved in the direction of the spire, like the barrel of a rifle ; the grooves are 8 or 9 in number and ter- minate in small denticles or notches within the mouth ; they * Having a conical appearance. 128 PYRAMIDELLIDiE. are often visible outside : inner lip adhering to the pillar above the tooth, and joining the outer lip at its upper angle, reflected and curved below the tooth : umbilicus small but deep, partly covered by the reflexion of the inner lip : tooth strong, promi- nent and conspicuous, placed just behind the umbilicus ; it winds round the pillar from one end of the spire to the other, like the worm of a corkscrew : operculum yellowish-brown, of equal proportionate solidity with that of Cychstoma eler/am, and exquisitely sculptured by close- set flexuous strise in the line of growth ; it has a curved groove down the middle, which ends in the spire of the operculum, and gives to the portion thus separated in front a cornucopia-shape ; this groove is deep and very distinct ; side-flap rather broad, widening with the growth of the operculum, and divided from the spiral part bv a narrow line. L. 0*25. B. 0*1. a/ Var. australis. Smaller and narrower. Habitat : Coralline and deep-sea zones, in mud, from 25 to 80 f., throughout Shetland and Scotland; Isle of Man (Forbes, as 0. plicata apparently) . It is locally plentiful in the Clyde district and Hebrides. The variety lias a southern range, comprising the Channel Isles, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Galway, and Cork ; in rock- pools, Falmouth (Barlee, and Miss Vignrs, fide Cocks) ; among Zoster a, Jersey (Dodd). This species was ori- ginally described as a fossil by Brocchi from the Sub- apennine tertiaries, and it has been recorded by Philippi from basaltic tufa at Militello, by Nyst (as 0. plicata) from Belgium; and by Searles Wood (under the latter name) from our Coralline Crag ; the Rev. H. W. Cross- key has found it in the Clyde beds, and M. Mace in an upper miocene deposit near Antibes. The ordinary or typical form inhabits the North Sea, from Hammerfest, 40 f. (Sars), to Gottenburg, 12 f. (Malm); and the variety is distributed along the European coasts of the Atlantic from Brittany, in the laminarian zone (Cailliand), to Gibraltar, 8-30 f. (M f Andrew), every part of the Medi- ODOSTOMIA. 129 » terranean, from 10 to 50 f. (Scacchi and others), the Adriatic (Brasilia, as O. Nagli), the iEgean, 7-41 f. (Forbes and Spratt), perhaps the Red Sea (Philippi), and the Canaries, 12-60 f. (M f Andrew). "The animal is vivacious, displays the eyes on the march, and makes rapid progression. The head and cloven muzzle nearly resemble those organs in Jeffrey sia diaphana" (Clark, MS.). The front side of the foot is fringed with microscopical aud extremely short cilia, which are in a state of incessant motion when the animal is crawling. Brocchi imagined that this species was terrestrial or lacustrine, and belonged to the genus Au- ricularia [Auricula] of Lamarck. The shell is cer- tainly not very unlike Melampus bidentatus. It is probably the 0. plicata of Fleming — certainly that of S. Wood, — and the Turbonilla plicata of Loven. Scacchi described and figured it as Rissoapolita. Han- lev called it 0. unidentata, myself 0. eulimoides, and Leach Alvania Cranchiana. The typical form appears to be the Odontostomia erythrcea of Philippi as well as his 0. sicula (cf. Zeitschr. f. Mai. 1849 and 1851). 10. O. umbilica'ris*, Malm. Turbonilla umbiliearis, Malm, Gotheb. k. Vet. Handl. (new series) no. viii. p. 128, pi. 2. f. 10. Shell forming a short cone, thin, transparent, and remark- ably glossy : sculpture, none except under a high microscopical power, when some extremely slight spiral stride are discernible in a favourable light : colour clear white, with a very faint bluish tint : spire short, ending in a rather blunt and rounded point, owing to the inversion of the apex : ivhorls 5-6, convex, very compact, gradually enlarging ; the last occupies three- fifths of the shell ; suture deep, imparting a slightly turreted appearance to the whorls ; owing to the transparency of the shell the periphery of each of the upper whorls appears like a * Umbilicate. (i 5 130 PYRAMIDELLID.^. narrow band round the top of the succeeding whorl : mouth oval, expanding below ; it somewhat exceeds in length one- third of the spire : outer Up slightly reflected, not much spread over the pillar, nor extending to the upper part of the outer lip ; it is more or less angulated below : umbilicus very dis- tinct although small : tooth small, prominent, and placed op- posite the umbilicus : operculum yellowish and rather solid, closely and finely striated across ; it is divided lengthwise about one-third the distance from the pillar by a curved groove, which forms a ridge on the under side ; inner side straight ; flap narrow; spire consisting of 2 or 3 whorls. L. 0-1. B. 0-05. Var. elongata. Spire more produced. Habitat : Coralline zone, in Torbay (Battersby) ; south of Devon (Webster); Land's End (Hockin) ; Oban (M'Kenzie) ; Loch Eyne, west of Scotland, and Lerwick (Barlee); Aberdeenshire (Dawson); Shetland (M f An- drew). Of the variety I fonnd a single specimen by dredging in Zostera- ground at Southampton. The only extra-British localities to my knowledge are the coast of Bohuslan, in 12 f. (with Mytilus Adriaticus) and also in 20f., as well as on Eggers Bank, Norway, in 1 50 f. (Malm), and in Finmark (Lilljeborg); the Norwegian specimens are of unusually large size, but possess all the characters of the species. It seems to be everywhere rare. Malm has well remarked that this species is easily distinguished from any other by its conspicuous um- bilicus, glossy surface, and convex whorls. 11. O. acu'ta*, Jeffreys. O. acuta, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 2nd ser. ii. p. 338 ; F. & H. iii. p. 269, pi. xcvii. f. 8, 9. Body dirty white, speckled with pale-yellow, red, brown or leadcolour points, which are irregularly distributed over many of the external organs : mantle folded at the upper angle of the mouth of the shell, so as to form a tubular canal : snout slender, * Pointed. ODOSTOMIA. 131 deeply channelled or hollowed out lengthwise, and having a spoon-shaped extremity : tentacles moderately long, and di- vergent ; each has a flake-white longitudinal line in the middle, running from base to point ; edges slightly folded ; tips less white and inflated than in allied species : eyes rather close together in the centre behind the tentacles : foot short, of a more opaque white than the rest of the body ; it is excavated in front, and so deeply divided or lobed as occasionally, when fully extended, to present the appearance of a second pair of short tentacles ; it terminates behind in a more or less obtuse point. (Clark.) Shell pyramidal, with a broad base, rather solid but semi- transparent, and lustrous : sculpture, extremely fine and rather numerous microscopical spiral strice, and still more minute and close-set flexuous lines of growth ; a slight peripheral keel is also observable in every stage of growth, but especially in young and half-grown specimens : colour whitish, with a tinge of pink or fleshcolour : spire gradually tapering ; nucleus ex- posed and inverted on the back, in nearly a horizontal posi- tion : whorls 6 (besides the embryonic ones), rounded although compressed, compact and gradually enlarging ; the last occu- pies about one-half of the shell : suture very narrow and slightly excavated, sloping a little downwards in consequence of the peripheral keel : mouth roundish-oval, contracted above, and somewhat expanded but scarcely angular below ; its length is less than a third of the whole spire : outer lip gently curved, inflected just below the periphery : inner lip adhering to the pillar above the tooth, and joining the outer lip at its upper angle, slightly reflected and more or less curved below the tooth : umbilicus developed and conspicuous, although small ; its entrance is through a channel behind the lower part of the inner lip : tooth strong and prominent, placed just behind the umbilical opening ; in construction and extent it resembles that of the last species : operculum yellowish-brown, finely and closely striated ; the curved groove is unusually distinct. L. 0-175. B. 0-075. Yar. umbilicata. Shell larger, stronger, and white, with a broad base and usually a wider and deeper umbilicus ; peri- pheral keel obscure. 0. umbilicata, Alder, in Trans. Tyneside Nat. Field Club, i. p. 359. Habitat : Coralline zone in various parts of the sea, especially in South Devon. Cornwall, Dorset, the Chan- 132 PYRAMIDELLID.E. nel Isles, Ireland, west of Scotland, Aberdeenshire, and Shetland may also be mentioned as localities. The variety was taken at Tynemouth by Mr. Alder, in Ban- try Bay by Mr. M f Andrew, and in St. Catherine's Bay, Jersey, by the Rev. Mr. Norman. Mr. Searles Wood's collection of Crag shells in the British Musenm contains a specimen of the typical form. Its known distribution in a living state beyond our seas is as follows : — Upper Norway (M'Andrew); Bohuslan (coll. Loven in mus. Stockh., 10-30 f., Malm and Lilljeborg); Loire-Infe- rieure (Cailliaud); north coast of Spain, 30 f., Cape Trafalgar, and Teneriffe (M f Andrew); Spezzia (J. Gr. J.). According to Clark, the animal is lively, active, and bold. He says that in some of his Exmouth specimens the throat of the shell is grooved. I have failed to detect this character in any of the specimens (at least 100) which I have examined. The umbilicus is visible even in the young. This species may be distinguished from O. umbilicaris by its greater solidity, the periphery being always keeled, the spire much longer, and the whorls compressed instead of convex. Erom O. cono'ldea it differs in its smaller size, pyramidal shape, wider base, and in the throat or inside of the outer lip being usually (if not invariably) smooth. 12. O. conspi'cua *", Alder. 0. eonspicv.a, Aid. in Trans. Tynes. Nat. Field Club, i. p. 359 ; F. & II. iii. p. 263, pi. tcv. f. 0. Shell forming an elongated cone with rather a broad base, solid, opaque, glossy and of a polished appearance : sculpture, line and numerous, but irregular microscopical spiral striae, and still more minute and close-set flexuous lines of growth ; the periphery is slightly but distinctly keeled or anguiated, as is also the base of each of the upper whorls : colour pale cho- * Remarkable. QDOSTOMIA. 133 colate, or creamcolour stained with madder : spire pyramidally tapering ; nucleus exposed and lying in nearly a horizontal position across the apex : whorls 8 (besides 2, which are em- bryonic and reversed), flattened ; the last occupies about one- half of the shell : suture narrow, but excavated, sloping down- wards in consequence of the peripheral keel : mouth rhomboidal, contracted above, considerably expanded and angulated below; its length somewhat exceeds a third of the whole spire : outer lip obtuse-angled in the middle, and incurved just below the periphery ; the inside or throat is finely but obscurely grooved in the direction of the spire : inner lip slight on the upper part, where it adheres to the pillar and joins the outer lip, reflected and nearly straight on the lower part, the angle at the base being very remarkable : umbilicus extremely small, and almost covered by the lower part of the inner lip : tooth strong, pro- minent and conspicuous, placed opposite and behind the um- bilicus ; it forms a sharp fold or ridge, which winds along the pillar throughout the spire. L. 0-35. B. Olo. Habitat : Coralline zone, off Whitburn, and Douglas in the Isle of Man (Alder) ; Herm, on the shell-beach (Metcalfe), and Guernsey, in 18-20 f. (J. G. J.) ; Larne, co. Antrim (Hyndman, fide Alder) j Loch Fyne (A. M'Nab) ; Aberdeenshire (Dawson) ; Shetland (Barlee). Bohuslan (Loven in mus. Stockh., and Malm in mus. Gottenb.) ; La Hougue Bay, Brittany (Mace) ; Lisbon (M 'Andrew) ; Gulf of Lyons (Martin) ; Spezzia, in 10-12 f. (J. G. J.) ; Adriatic (Nardo) ; Sardinia and Naples (Tiberi). By far the largest and rarest species in this section ; it deserves its specific name. Independently of size, the whorls are less compact than in 0. acuta, the keel is stronger, the mouth squarish, and the umbilicus reduced almost to nothing. It is the 0. unidentata of Hanley, in Thorpe's ' British Marine Conchology/ Malm mistook for this species an old and imperfect specimen of the next. 134 PYRAMIDELLID/E. 13. O. unidenta'ta *, Montagu. Turbo unidentatus, Mont. Test. Br. (ii.) p. 324. 0. unidentata, F. & H. iii. p. 264, pi. xcv. f. 7, 8. Body clear bluish-white : snout compressed, bevelled at the margin, and truncated in front: tentacles short, broad, awl- shaped, " setose " [?], blunt, with a fine transparent line down the middle of each : eyes close together, sunken in the mem- brane which connects the tentacles : foot short, truncated in front and slightly eared, sloping behind to a broad, obtuse, lance-shaped point ; sole in front flake-white, behind hyaline, with a fine longitudinal line along the centre of the posterior half ; it is divided from the upper disk by a shallow groove, giving the foot a labiated aspect. (Clark.) Shell, a rather long cone with a broad base, solid, almost opaque, and glossy: sculpture, microscopical and slight but close-set spiral striae, and a more or less distinct keel round the periphery, as well as at the base of each of the upper whorls : colour milk-white, with a bluish tint in immature specimens : spire shortish ; nucleus exposed, twisted in some specimens backwards, and in others forwards : whorls 6, besides those of the embryonic nucleus ; they gradually enlarge, and are nearly flat ; the last equals in length the rest of the spire ; suture narrow but distinct, defined above by the peripheral keel, from which it slopes downwards : mouth squarish, ex- panded and forming nearly a right angle at the inner base ; its length is about a third of the whole spire : outer lip nearly semicircular, incurved (but not much) just below the periphery: inner lip extremely thin on the upper part, where it adheres to the pillar but does not join the outer lip, reflected and nearly straight on the lower part, the angle at the base being well marked : umbilicus none, although there is sometimes a small chink : tooth large, strong, prominent and conspicuous, placed as in several of the species last described; it is continued throughout the spire : operculum as in 0. cono'iclea. L. 0*2. B. 0-1. Yar. data. Spire more elongated, and base narrower. Habitat : Under stones at low-water mark of spring tides, and on old oyster-shells and Pecten maximus in the laminarian and coralline zones, on every part of our * Single-toothed. ODOSTOMIA. 135 coasts. Fossil in the Clyde beds (Crosskey) , and in the glacial and post-glacial formations in Norway at the re- spective heights of 400^60 feet and 50-100 feet (Sars). Its foreign distribution is doubtful, because this species has not been satisfactorily identified by some continental authors. For instance, Petit has recorded it from the Gulf of Lyons on the authority of M. Martin, and Ve- rany from Nice ; but in both these cases I ascertained that O. pallida had been mistaken for the present species. I must for the same reason question the locality of Al- geria given by M. Weinkauff. The. following, however, may be relied on : — Norway as far north as Hammer- fest, in 10-50 f. (Sars) ; Stromstad, Bohuslan, on an oyster from 12 f. (Rubenson, fide Malm) ; and Loire- Inferieure (Cailliaud) . From Mr. Clark's account the animal differs little from that of O. acuta. The shell may be distinguished from that and other allied species by its squarish mouth and nearly rectangular base, and from O. conspicua by its smaller size, colour, and smooth throat. I found a living specimen which had lost all the upper part of the spire. It is the Sabancea Montaguana of Leach, taking his synonymy as my guide : his description is so vague and almost unintelligible, that it would serve for any of the smooth species. 14. O. turri'ta*, Hanley. O. turrita, Hani, in Proc. Zool. Soc. pt. xii. p. 18. O. unidentata, var. ?, F. & H. iii. p. 267, pi. xcv. f. 9. Body white, with a bluish tinge, and transparent, covered with exceedingly minute granules, which give the surface (especially the foot) a frosted appearance: snout narrow, rounded * Turrcted. 136 PYRAMIDELLIDJE. in front, a little in advance of the foot : tentacles rather long and leaf- like, with blunt tips : eyes very small, placed close together on the middle of the neck between the tentacles at their inner base : foot rather broad, more or less indented (and now and then deeply bilobed) in front, obliquely truncated and irregularly bilobed behind. Shell forming a somewhat cylindrical cone, strong and solid, semitransparent and glossy : sculpture none, unless ex- amined with a magnifying-power, when the surface appears covered by fine and regular spiral strise ; the periphery is slightly keeled : colour pale yellowish- white or whitish, with a dark border below the suture in each whorl as in many other of the smooth and semitransparent species : spire rather long, turreted, and abruptly terminating ; nucleus exposed, usually twisted forwards : ivkorls 5-6 (besides those composing the nucleus) , convex, and gradually enlarging ; the last forms one- half of the spire, and scarcely exceeds the next in breadth : suture narrow, but well defined : mouth squarish, not much expanded or angulated at the inner base ; it is proportionally small, and its length is scarcely a third of the whole spire : outer Up projecting but little beyond the periphery, below which it is considerably incurved towards the pillar, thus contracting the mouth : inner lip thin, and adhering to the pillar on the upper part, without joining the outer lip. thickened, reflected, and gently curved on the lower part, the basal angle being usually slight : umbilicus none : tooth small, not prominent, nor very conspicuous : operculum of a thinner texture and less strongly striated than that of 0. cono'idea or the last species. L. 0-125. B. 0-05. Yar. striolata. More conical, with a shorter spire and larger mouth ; the periphery is bluntly angulated ; the tooth is stronger, and prominent ; and the spiral strioe are unusually distinct. 0. striolata, (Alder) F. & H. iii. p. 267, pi. xcv. f. 5. Habitat: Under stones and in rock-pools at low-water mark, and among seaweeds in the laminarian zone ; it is widely distributed and not uncommon. A specimen of the variety was found by Mr. Alder in shell-sand from Ilfracombe ; Mr. Norman has taken it in Bantry Bay, and Mr. Hockin at the Land's End. I noticed the typical form in the Royal Museum at Copenhagen (from the ODOSTOMIA. 137 Cattegat), and also among: shells collected by M. Cail- liaud in Brittany, bv M. Mace at Cannes, and by Mr. M f Andrew (of a smaller size) off Teneriffe ; it was like- wise procured by me while dredging in the Gulf of Spezzia. The animal floats, like a Jeffreysia ; and, when crawl- ing, it has the same habit of withdrawing its eyes, which are visible through the shell. It appears to be inactive, because Foraminifera are sometimes seen attached to living specimens. This species is remarkable for its contracted mouth; it is much more slender than 0. uni- dentata, the peripheral keel is less distinct, the base is scarcely angulated, and the tooth is proportionally smaller and not so prominent or conspicuous. Although variable in size, it never attains half the dimensions of that species. I have united 0. striolata with the present species, in consequence of finding intermediate forms which may belong to one or the other. I must also refer to it the varieties a and b of O. plicata, described in my mono- graph. 15. O. plica'ta"*, Montagu. Turbo plicatus, Mont. Test. Br. (ii.) p. 325, t. 21. f. 2. 0. plicata, F. & H. iii. p. 271, pi. xcviii. f. 1, 2. Body whitish, with minute and close-set yellow specks : snout small, wedge-shaped, flexible and extensile : tentacles leaf-like, and presenting three equal-sized, angular and flat- tened sides, which are folded a little inwards ; tips rounded but not much inflated : eyes not quite so close together as in some other species, seated on the tentacles, at their inner bases : foot squarish in front and bluntly pointed behind ; sole slightly grooved lengthwise on the posterior half. Shell slender, with a narrow and attenuated base, thin, r * Furnished with a plait or fold. 138 PYRAMIDELLID.E. transparent, and of a lustrous polish : sculpture none, except microscopical and extremely slight but numerous spiral striae, which can only be detected at certain angles of light ; peri- phery not keeled or angulated : colour very pale yellowish- white or whitish, with a dark border below the suture, caused by a thickening of that part : spire long and finely tapering to a blunt point ; nucleus exposed, and twisted in different direc- tions : whorls 5-6 (exclusive of the nucleus), rounded but much compressed, and gradually enlarging ; the last occupies rather more than one-half of the shell if viewed with the mouth upwards, and about two-fifths if viewed with the'mouth down- wards : suture slight, somewhat more oblique than in the last species : mouth oval, inclining to oblong, narrow and acute- angled above, rounded and scarcely expanded below ; its length equals a third of the whole spire : outer lip rather flexuous, not projecting beyond the periphery : inner lip thin, adhering to the pillar on the upper part, and united with the outer lip ; the lower portion is thickened, reflected, and curved : umbilicus none, although full-grown specimens have a narrow chink : tooth small, more prominent and conspicuous than in the last species : operculum thicker on the inner than the outer side of the mouth, coarsely striated, and sometimes having a white streak down the middle. L. 0*1. B. 0-04. Habitat : Under loose stones and among seaweeds at low-water mark, in the Channel Isles, South Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, and Bristol Channel, as well as at Fish- guard, Barmouth, and Cork; it is tolerably abundant in the sublittoral zone at Exmouth. These are all the places which I can vouch for ; O. turrita has been frequently mistaken for the present species. This probably has only a southern range, comprising the north of France (J. G. J., Mace, Tasle, and Cailliand), Provence (Martin), Antibes (Mace), Nice (Verany), Spezzia (J. G. J.), Corsica (Susini), and Dalmatia (Brusina). Weinkauff has enumerated it among his Algerian shells. The characters by which this species may be known from the last are, narrower and slenderer, thin, trans- parent, and much more glossy, having a longer and ODOSTOMIA. 139 tapering spire, a slight suture, nearly flat whorls, a dif- ferently shaped mouth, and no peripheral keel. It is the Voluta plicatula of Dillwyn, and apparently the Eulima unidens of Requien, Turbonella angusta of Leach, and O. vitrea of Brusina. 16. O. insculp'ta *, Montagu. Turbo insculptus, Mont. Test. Br. Suppl. p. 129. 0. insculpta, F. & H. iii. p. 289, pi. xcvi. f. 6. Body opaque frosted-white, with a rather large patch of dull claret-red on the back : mantle having the usual fold at the upper angle of the aperture of the shell : snout short, cloven nearly to the eyes, each lobe being deeply curved outwards : tentacles coalescing at their bases, very broad and short ; tips very small, white, and slightly inflated : eyes close together : foot deeply notched in front, forming at each corner a divergent acute auricle, behind which it becomes a little constricted, and terminates in two symmetrical distinct pointed tails or streamers, which describe an angle of separation equal to that of the fore and middle fingers when placed as far apart as pos- sible. (Clark.) Shell somewhat cylindrical, with a narrow base, thin, semi- transparent and glossy : sculpture, distinct and regidar spiral incised lines or narrow grooves, which cover the lower three- fourths or even more of the last whorl, and the lower half of each of the preceding whorls ; these lines are not micro- scopical, but visible to a sharp eye without a lens ; the upper part of each whorl below the suture is marked by fine, slight, and numerous flexuous lines in a longitudinal direction, which by crossing the upper rows of spiral striae produce in the latter an imperfectly punctured appearance ; the whole surface is also sculptured with microscopical and close-set spiral striae, which can only be detected in " live " or fresh specimens and at a certain incidence of light : colour pale white, assuming an ivory lustre in " dead " or faded specimens : spire long, some- what turreted, and having a truncated apex ; nucleus obliquely declining, and concealed : ivhorls 6, convex although more or less compressed ; each has a narrow and thick rim immediately below the suture ; the rate of their enlargement is rather quick, the last occupying about one-half of the shell : suture narrow, * Engraved. 140 pyramidellidjE. slightly channelled, and somewhat oblique : mouth irregularly oblong, owing to the inflexion and curvature of the outer lip ; it is acute-angled above (but not so sharply as in 0. plicata), and decidedly expanded below ; its length equals a third of the whole spire : outer lip remarkably flexuous, retreating at the upper corner of the mouth, where it forms a deep sinus, and inflected in the middle, so as to contract the mouth on that side : inner lip as in the last species ; the lower part, however, is more reflected and straight in the present species : umbilicus small and narrow: tooth — or rather an oblique fold — retired and inconspicuous, although always present : operculum re- markably thin, light-horncolour, narrow, and obliquely striated. (This description of the operculum is taken from Mr. Clark's account.) L. 0-15. B. 0-0625. Habitat : Coralline and deep-sea zones, throughout the British seas, from 10 to 85 f. ; not common. I have noted 26 localities. Coralline Crag, Sutton (S. Wood); post-glacial shell-banks near Drontheim, 60-80 feet (Sars) . It has been found living at Drobak in Chris- tianiafiord, in 50 f., and at the Loffoden Isles, in 50- 100 f., by Sars, at Kullen in South Sweden by Orsted (and named by Loven Turbonilla obliqua), at Gotten- burg, in 16 f., by Malm (who described it as T. War- renii), and in Brittany by Cailliaud and Tasle. The incised revolving lines round the lower part of each whorl readily serve to recognize this species in comparison with any of the foregoing. It is in all probability the Turbo divisus of Adams, with rather more doubt Pyramis nivosus of Brown, and unquestionably Turbonella transparens of Leach, if re- liance is to be placed on the authenticity of his type in the British Museum. But, in his ' Mollusca of Great Britain/ the last-named species is described as " very smooth/' and the few other characters there given are common to all its congeners of the present section. ODOSTOMIA. 141 17. O. dia'phana*, Jeffreys. 0. diaphana, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 2nd ser. ii. p. 341 ; Sowerby, 111. Ind. pi. 17. f. 23. Body brilliant frosted subhyaline-white : mantle forming a conspicuous tubular fold at the upper angle of the aperture of the shell : snout short, cloven in the centre almost to the eyes ; each segment or lobe has an outward curve equal to an angle of 40° : tentacles strong, rather long, without much auriform folding, roundish and taper, terminating in minute circular snow-white inflated tips ; instead of the tentacles moderately diverging on each side of the snout, they are widely curved and carried at a right angle to the axis of the shell : eyes close together, at the internal basal angles of the tentacles : foot long, broad, and thin, rather concave in front, slightly auricled, and when fully extended reaching beyond the body-whorl in front ; it terminates in a distinct bifurcation, which is very apparent in slow march, but, on a quicker pace being attained, the fork in some measure decreases in consequence of the greater extension of the foot. (Clark ; as Chemnitzia ohliqua.) Shell inclining to spindle-shaped, very thin, nearly trans- parent, and lustrous : sculpture none, except slight flexuous and numerous microscopical strife in the line of growth : colour whitish : spire rather long, abruptly truncated ; nucleus ob- liquely declining and concealed, raised in front and twisted backwards : whorls 4, convex, and rapidly enlarging ; the last occupies two-thirds of the shell ; the upper part of each is encircled bv a thickened rim : suture narrow, but well denned, and oblique : mouth rather oblong than oval, narrow and acute- angled above, expanded below ; its length exceeds two -fifths of the whole spire : outer lip flexuous, retreating at the upper corner of the mouth, where it forms a rather deep sinus, and projecting in the middle : inner lip extremely slight on the upper part, thickened, and gently curved, but very little reflec- ted, on the lower part : iimbilicus developed in the adult only, when it is small and inconspicuous, being approached by a narrow canal or groove from the base : tooth consisting of an insignificant and retired fold : operculum extremely thin, ex- cept on the inner side, light- yellow, scored obliquely by fine and close-set flexuous lines, and having a distinct but short and nearly terminal spire of two minute whorls ; it resembles in shape a Cristellaria. L. 0*1. B. 0*05. * Transparent. 142 PYRAMIDELLIDiE. Habitat : Coralline zone,12-50f., Guernsey (J. G. J.); Fowey (Barlee), Exmouth (Clark), Hebrides (J. G. J.), Aberdeenshire (Dawson), Shetland (Barlee and J. G. J.); it is both local and rare. I am not aware of any geo- logical or foreign locality. This species differs from 0. insculpta in being more spindle-shaped than cylindrical, of a thinner texture, quite smooth instead of spirally striated, having fewer whorls (the last being disproportionately large), with a more oblique suture, and in the umbilicus being nar- row and inconspicuous. It is certainly not the young of 0. obliqua, as Forbes and Hanley supposed. The present species is in every state of growth more slender (in consequence of the whorls not being so tumid) ; nor is it ever striated, like that species ; the umbilicus also is smaller, and the nucleus of the spire less prominent. Mr. Clark's description of the animal of 0. obliqua was taken from a specimen of O. diaphana, which is now in the fine collection of Mr. Leckenby at Scarborough. 18. O. obli'qua*, Alder. 0. ? obliqua, Alder in Ann. & Mag. N. H. xiii. p. 327, pi. viii. f. 12. 0. obliqua, F. & H. iii. p. 291, pi. xcvi. f. 1. Body clear white, with a slightly frosted appearance : man- tit occasionally forming a small conduit or fold at the upper angle of the aperture of the shell : snout short, cloven as far as the eyes, having the segments curved to the right and left : tentacles short, bevelled, not broad, tapering to a fine point, and having small white inflated tips ; they are carried in front of the head with an angular divergence of about 75° : eyes close together, at the united internal bases of the tentacles : foot short, concave in front, slightly auricled, terminating obtusely behind. (Clark.) Shell shaped like that of a miniature Limnaia of the stag- nalis type, extremely thin, transparent, and glossy : sculpture, * Slanting. ODOSTOMIA. 143 fine and close-set striae, which become stronger and more re- mote on the base : colour whitish : spire long and tapering, somewhat turreted ; nucleus partly exposed, and prominent, twisted upwards in front, and sloping towards the back : ivhorls 5 (including the uppermost, from which the nucleus springs), tumid, and very rapidly enlarging ; the last constitutes more than two-thirds of the shell : suture deep and oblique : mouth oblong or pear-shaped, narrow and contracted above, consi- derably expanded or effuse below : it exceeds in length two- fifths of the whole spire : outer lip flexuous, retreating, and sinuated at the upper corner of the mouth, where it is incurved on the periphery : inner lip receding (almost concealed from view), and remarkably thin on the upper part, thickened and reflected, but not much curved, on the lower part ; it forms an obtuse angle or point at the base : umbilicus none, or consist- ing of an oblique depression, which sometimes ends in a small chink : tooth, only a slight and obscure fold : operculum as in the last species, but less strongly striated. L. 0*2. B. 0-075. Yar. Warreni. Smaller; having the basal striae more dis- tinct, and the umbilicus more developed. Bissoa Warreni, Thompson, in Ann. & Mag. N. H. xv. p. 315, pi. xix. f. 4. 0. Warrenii, F. & H. iii. p. 292, pi. xcvi. f. 2, 3. Habitat : Tynemouth (Alder), west of Scotland (Barlee), Aberdeenshire (Dawson), Skye, Shetland, Cork, Bantry, Caswell Bay near Swansea, Exmouth, Falmouth, Guernsey, and Herm (J. G. J.), Herm (Ha^i- ley), west of Ireland (Thompson, fide Alder), Helford (Hockin). Its foreign range appears to be, Loken in South Sweden, 20 f. (Malm) ; and Etretat in Normandy, at the same depth (J. G. J.). The variety has been taken in Dublin Bay by the late Mr. T. W. Warren, on the Turbot-bank off Larne, co. Antrim (Waller), Bir- terbuy Bay, co. Galway, Burrow Island near Kingsbridge, and in rock-pools at Gwyllyn-vase near Falmouth (Bar- lee), living at low-water mark at Budleigh Salterton near Exmouth (Clark), Land's End and Falmouth (Hockin). M. Mace found the variety at Cannes ; Mr. Hanley dredged it at Villafranca, and I at Spezzia. 144 PYRAMIDELLID.E. A monstrous specimen, from Guernsey, of this com- paratively rare species has a remarkably thick and strong varix or rib-like callosity 4 in the middle of the body-whorl. Mr. Alder noticed the striae on the typical form. This species may be the Auriculina exilissima of Bru- sina, from Melada in Dalmatia. 19. O. doliolifou'mis*, Jeffreys. 0. dolioliformis, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 2nd ser. ii. p. 342 ; F. & H. iii. p. 301, pi. xcvii. f. 5. Body hyaline pale azure : mantle slightly channelled at the upper angle of the shell on the right side : snout considerably in advance of the foot when the animal is in active motion, scarcely extending to its front edge when at rest : tentacles proportionally larger than in other species, not so triangular, nor furnished with such broad lateral membranes, nor do they coalesce so decidedly as in other species to form a veil • the tip of each has a point of flake-white : eyes as usual : foot ap- parently divided into two parts ; the anterior or front portion is constricted, slender, attenuated, and very extensile, slightly auricled and notched, and nearly clear white ; the posterior or hinder portion is somewhat oval, short, broad, fleshy, of an opaque pale drab, and divided in the middle by a deep longi- tudinal fissure or groove, that seems almost to separate this portion into two equal lobes, which terminate together in a rounded point with a narrow central notch. (Clark.) Shell oval, resembling Dolium perclix in shape, rather thin,, se'mitransparent, and somewhat glossy : sculpture, about 20 remote and sometimes wavy spiral striaB, which are almost perceptible by the naked eye ; the microscopical lines of growth are numerous and very slight ; these do not cross the striae, nor impart any " quasireticulated " appearance, as noticed bj r Mr. Clark : colour whitish, with a faint tinge of yellow in live specimens : spire remarkably short ; nucleus twisted horizon- tally in different directions : whorls 3 only, besides those of the nucleus or apex ; they are ventricose, but compressed to- wards the suture and front edge, and suddenly enlarge ; the last occupies nearly the whole of the shell when viewed with * Haying - the aspect of a small species of Dolium. ODOSTOMIA. 14." .) the mouth upwards, and at least two-thirds of it when viewed in an opposite position : suture channelled, rather oblique : mouth roundish-oval, not contracted above, slightly expanded below ; it considerably exceeds in length one-half of the whole spire : outer lip abruptly incurved on the periphery : inner lip thin on the upper part (where it is united with the outer lip), broad, thickened, a little reflected, almost straight, and shel- ving outwards on the lower part, which is more than thrice as long as the other : umbilicus consisting of a narrow, although distinct, depression, which terminates in a small chink : tooth strong, conspicuous, like a short thorn, projecting from the middle of the inner or pillar-lip : operculum, according to Mr. Clark, cartilaginous and flexible, with the stria? of growth ar- ranged in elliptical curves, as in 0. pallida. L. 0*075. B. 0-05. Habitat : Aberdeenshire (Dawson) ; Hebrides (Bar- lee) ; Scarborough (Bean and J. G. J.) ; Barmouth, Tenby, Swansea, Sandwich, Paington, and Guernsey (J. G. J.) ; littoral zone, Exmouth (Clark) ; Burro m Island (Barlee) ; Hayle and Land's End (Hockin) . Local and rare. M. Tasle lias found this species at Morbihan in Brittany ; and I dredged it in the Gulf of Spezzia. It is impossible to determine Walker's shell, fig. 55, which Montagu named Turbo Sandvicensis. The cha- racteristic word " reticulatis," used bv Walker in his short diagnosis, with reference to the whorls, is appli- cable to 0. decussata, but not to the shell which I have now described; if the figure were the sole criterion, I should be disposed to assign it to the present species. 20. O. dectjssa'ta*, Montagu. Turbo decussatus, Mont. Test. Br. (ii.) p. 322, t, 12. f. 4. O. decussata, F. & H. iii. p. 303, pi. xcvii. f. 6, 7. Body clear white, except the head, which is pale-pink or red : snout small, somewhat cylindrical, narrow, and attenuated * Divided crosswise. VOL. IV. H 146 PYRAMIDELLID.E. towards the point, where it assumes a clavate or haminer-like appearance, becoming thick, angular, bevelled to a sudden edge, and straight or truncated in front : tentacles very short, not much folded, terminating in indistinct flake -white lobes ; the lateral membranes, which are not so extensive as in other species, coalesce and form a shallow veil : eyes very close to- gether, exactly at the internal bases of the tentacles, " not immersed, but a little elevated on minute prominences : " foot rather broad and truncated in front, without the usual ear- shaped points at the corners, becoming a little constricted be- hind, and having a very rounded extremity : opercular lobe simple. (Clark.) Shell conic-oblong with a rather narrow base, thinnish, semitransparent and somewhat glossy : sculpture, rather strong longitudinal ribs, which are flexuous on the body-whorl and extend to the base, and are curved on the next two whorls, the upper ones being smooth ; there are about 25 ribs on the last whorl, 20 on the penultimate, and 15 on part of the ante- penultimate whorl, where the ribs cease altogether : the inter- stices of these ribs are crossed by finer and thread-like spiral or transverse striae, of which about a dozen may be counted on the body- whorl, 7 or 8 on the next, and 5 or 6 on the suc- ceeding whorl ; the striae do not extend to the suture ; the mu- tual intersection of the ribs and striae gives a finely cancellated or reticulated appearance : colour whitish : spire produced, slightly turreted ; nucleus raised in front or on one side, and twisted inwards : whorls 4 (besides those forming the nucleus), convex, and rather quickly enlarging ; the last occupies nearly three-fifths of the shell : suture deep and channelled, some- what oblique: mouth oval, scarcely contracted above or ex- panded below ; its length is almost two-fifths of the whole spire: outer lip not much curved, abruptly inflected on the periphery : inner lip thin on the upper part, continuous with the outer lip in adult specimens, thickened, reflected, and in- clining to straight on the lower part, which is twice as long as the other : umbilicus slight, forming a narrow chink behind the inner or pillar-lip : tooth very retired and inconspicuous, consisting of a narrow oblique fold, which on breaking the shell may be seen winding round the pillar : operculum rather thin and delicately striated. L. 0-125. B. 0-05. Habitat : Coralline zone on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall (Montagu, Barlee, and others) ; Guernsey, ODOSTOMIA. 147 Barmouth, Bantry Bay, co. Antrim, Oban, and Shet- land (J. G. J.) ; Dublin Bay (Turton and Kinahan) ; co. Gal way (Barlee) j Clyde district, in nullipore (Nor- man); and Moray Firth (Gordon). Not uncommon. Coralline Crag at Sutton (S. Wood). Departement of Morbihan (Tasle). The exquisite latticework of this shell is more than worthy of the following lines attributed to Bishop Mant : — " These by the microscopic glass Survey'd, you'll see how far surpass The works of nature, in design And texture delicately fine, And perfectness of every part, Each effort of mimetic art." Perhaps Adams's description of Turbo pellucidus, to which I formerly referred the present species, may be too vague for identification : it is, " T. quinque anfrac- tibus reticularis, apertura subrotunda. Obs. Color al- bus." It would suit as well a bleached Rissoapunctura. Our shell is the Helix arenaria of Maton and Rackett ; and it is possibly, but little more than guessiugly, Brown's Pyramis spirolinus. If the ' Illustrations of the Recent Conchology of Great Britain and Ireland ' had been written in the seventeenth century, some al- lowance might be made for the abundance of its errors, both of graphic and pictorial delineation ; but it is of modern date. The task of scrutinizing this author's nu- merous ill-defined and often questionable species, and the mental torture caused by hammering at the horrible names which he invented, are enough to give any one not having nerves of catgut a most excruciating head- ache. His stilted and often ungrammatical language, too, hardly suits the present age ; " his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes." Why h 2 148 pyramidellidjE. could lie not say grooved instead of " sulcated/' length- wise and not " longitudinally/' and for " undulated }> wavy ? and how do the whorls (or " volutions/' as he calls them) " oblique towards the suture ? " B. Turbonilla or Chemnitzia. 21. O. clathra'ta*, Jeffreys. 0. clathrata, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 2nd ser. ii. p. 345 ; F. & H. iii. p. 258, pi. xciv. f. 4. Shell cylindro-conical, solid, opaque, and not so glossy as most of its congeners : sculpture, somewhat flexuous, strong and flattened longitudinal ribs, of which there are about 20 on the body-whorl, extending to the base ; their interstices are of the same breadth as the ribs, and crossed by short transverse striae or much smaller ribs, of which there are 3 rows on the last whorl, and 2 on each of the upper whorls ; these trans- verse striae occupy the middle or greater part of the last whorl and the lower half of each of the other whorls ; the topmost or apical whorl is smooth : colour white, in one specimen stained with pale reddish-brown : spire elongated and tapering to an abruptly pointed extremity ; nucleus raised on one side and twisted inwards : whorls 6-7, evenly convex ; the last occupies more than two-fifths of the shell : suture rather wide and deep, somewhat oblique : mouth roundish-oval, or regularly oval, very little contracted above or expanded below ; length about one-fourth of the whole spire : outer lip rounded, sharply inflected below the periphery : inner Up retreating obliquely (but not very thin) on the upper part, where it is united with the outer lip, so as to form a nearly complete peristome, scarcely reflected and gently curved on the lower part : umbilicus de- veloped more than in the allied species, and consisting of a narrow depression and chink behind the pillar-lip : tooth or fold none. L. 0-165. B. 0-05. Habitat : Birterbuy Bay, co. Galway, where Mr. Barlee and I found two specimens by dredging in about 15 f. Hanley procured it at Malta, I at Spezzia, and M f Andrew at Orotava. It is evidently very rare. * Latticed. ODOSTOMIA. 149 Although. I have only seen very few examples of this species, they all agree in shape, texture, sculpture, and other characteristics. It is intermediate between 0. decussata and 0. indistincta, but has perhaps a greater affinity to the latter. From 0. decussata it differs in having a more elongated spire, much fewer, stronger, and more prominent longitudinal ribs, with short trans- verse interstitial striae, which are confined to part of each whorl, instead of the whole surface being finely reticulated : from 0. indistincta it may be known by its more conical and less cylindrical outline, and being proportionally broader, having the apex of the spire obliquely pointed instead of abruptly truncated, the whorls more convex, and the suture larger; the longitu- dinal ribs are thicker, broader, and flattened ; and there are but three rows of spiral striae on the body-whorl, and two on each of the upper whorls. It is also a more solid shell than either of the above-named species. 22. O. indistincta"*, Montagu. Turbo indistinctus, Mont. Test. Br. Suppl. p. 129. Chemnitzia indi- stincta, F. & H. iii. p. 255, pi. xciv. f. 2, 3. Body nearly clear white, with a pale yellowish tinge, over- spread or powdered with minute snow-white flakes or lemon- coloured points : snout long, rather narrow, with a rounded extremity ; it is somewhat grooved on its upper surface as far as the tentacular veil, where the slit for the issue of the pro- boscis is marked by a slight prominence : tentacles very short, united at the bases ; their thin edges are unrolled on the march, which gives them a very large subtriangular, broad, leafy aspect, instead of the usual ear-shaped figure ; tips large and inflated : eyes very black, conspicuous, and close together : foot large, long and extensile, thin, nearly transparent, either truncated or concave in front (depending on the will or action of the animal), with very large auricles, which in progression * Obscure (metonymically). 150 PYRAMIDELLID/E. are used as feelers ; the edges are often folded inwards ; it ends in a needle-point : opercular lobe simple and obscure. (Clark.) Shell cylindrical and slender, rather thin, semitransparent and glossy : sculpture, numerous and close-set fine longitudinal ribs, which are flexuous on the body-whorl, curved on the middle ones, and oblique on those near the apex ; they dis- appear towards the base ; their interstices in nearly the lower half of each whorl are crossed by extremely short transverse or spiral striae, of* which there are from 6 to 8 rows on the last whorl, 3 or 4 on the middle whorls, and 2 only on each of the top whorls ; in worn specimens the decussation thus produced gives a punctured appearance ; the base exhibits microscopic spiral lines, and the apex is quite smooth : colour white : spire considerably elongated, and gradually tapering to an abruptly truncated extremity ; nucleus twisted inwards : whorls 7-8, convex, depressed below the suture and also on the upper part of the spire ; they shelve abruptly downwards towards the suture on the lower side ; each has the usual thickened rim immediately below the suture ; the last occupies about two-fifths of the shell : suture narrow and deep, nearly straight on the upper part of the spire, becoming somewhat oblique on the lower part : mouth oval, contracted above and considerably expanded below ; length not one-fourth of the whole spire : outer lip flexuous, retreating and forming a sinus above, incurved below the periphery : inner lip extremely thin on the upper part, reflected and nearly straight below : umbi- licus consisting of a slight depression which ends in a small narrow chink : tooth or fold none : operculum having a thin flap, and obliquely striated. L. 0-165. B. 0-04. Var. brevior. Proportionally smaller, with a shorter spire and more convex whorls. Habitat : Various places from Guernsey to Shetland, in from 4 to 40 f.; "not uncommon alive in rock-pools" at Cumbrae (Norman) . The variety is equally distributed, and, according to Mr. Clark (who erroneously considered it O. clathratd) , it inhabits " a peculiar district of shelly mud, between the laminarian and coralline zones in 10 fathoms water, off Teignmoutli." Sars lias recorded this species as occurring in a post-glacial shell- bank at ODOSTOMTA. 151 Kirkoen in Norway, at a height of 50 feet above the level of the sea; and Searles Wood gives it as a Coral- line Crag fossil. It has been taken in a living or recent state bv Sars in Christianiafiord, in 10-50 f., by Malm in 12 f. on the coast of Bohuslan, bv Cailliand in the Departement of Loire-Inferieure, by M r Andrew off Gibraltar and in the Mediterranean, by Martin in the Gulf of Lyons, by me at Spezzia, by Acton (on the au- thority of Dr. Tiberi) at Naples, by Tiberi at Magnisi in Sicily (of a much smaller size than usual), and by M f Andrew among the Canary Isles, in 40-60 f. The svnonvms are Turrit ella truncata of Fleming- Rissoa Ballice of Thompson, Terebra speciosa of Bean (from a broken specimen), and Chemnitzia curvicostata of Searles Wood. 23. O. interstinc'ta"*, Montagu. Turbo interstinctus, Mont. Test. Br. (ii.) p. 324, t. 12. f. 10. O. inter- stincta, F. & H. iii. p. 296, pi. xcvii. f. 1. Body white and transparent : snout small, narrow and slender : tentacles varying in length, rather broad, with a small white bulb on each at the tip ; they are retractile, as in Rissoa : eyes small, rather close together, at the inner base of the tentacles, sometimes withdrawn under the shell when the animal is crawling : foot short and narrowish, truncated or slightly indented in front, with small auricles, behind which it is constricted for about one-third of its length ; tail bluntly pointed. Shell conic-oblong, rather solid, semitransparent and glossy: sculpture, numerous strong and slightly curved longitudinal ribs, broader than the interstices, about 20 on the body- whorl; these are cut off at the periphery by two (very rarely three) rows of obscure spiral stria?, which are placed close together below the periphery, and cross the interstices of the ribs in such a manner as to form oval cavities or punctures having their greater axis in the direction of the spire ; each of the * Punctured here and there. 152 PYRAMIDELLID.E. upper whorls is similarly marked just above the suture ; the base of the shell is almost always smooth : colour white : spire more or less elongated, and tapering to a blunt extremity ; nucleus smooth, higher on one side and twisted inwards : whorls 5-6 y compressed rather than convex, shelving abruptly towards the suture, each having a thickened rim round the top ; the last occupies more than one-half of the shell : suture narrow, but deeply excavated, scarcely oblique : mouth oval, somewhat con- tracted above and much expanded below ; its length equals, and in some cases exceeds, one-third of the whole spire : outer lip rlexuous, slightly sinuated above, where it is gently incurved on the periphery : inner lip undistinguishable and apparently wanting on the upper part, not much reflected (although slo- ping inwards) and nearly straight below, terminating in a rect- angular base, like 0. unidentata : umbilicus none, or consisting at the most of an indistinct and narrow chink, which, how- ever, becomes considerably developed in aged specimens : tooth short and retired, but strong : operculum flexible, with a very thin flap, closely and finely striated in the line of growth, and presenting the usual triangular ridge on the pillar-side and a minute almost terminal spire. L. 0*125. B. 0-04. Yar. 1. terebellum. Much larger, with an elongated spire ; ribs set more obliquely, especially on the body-whorl ; tooth prominent. Chemnitzia terebellum, Philippi, Moll. Sic. ii. p. 138, t. xxiv. f. 12. Yar. 2. suturalis. Much smaller, more cylindrical and nar- rower ; ribs finer, decidedly curved, or even flexuous, on the body-whorl, and occasionally covering the base, llissoa striata (afterwards changed to B. suturalis), Phil. I. c. i. p. 154, t. x. f. 8. Habitat : Everywhere, in the laminarian and coral- line zones ; nestling among stones and old shells, and occasionally at the base of seaweeds in rock-pools at spring tides. Post-glacial shell-banks in Norway, 0-100 feet (Sars). Extensively distributed over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean, from the Loffoden Isles, 10-50 f. (Sars), and Bohuslan, 10-20 f. (Malm), along the north coast of France (De Gerville and others), to Spezzia (J. G. J.), at depths varying from 3 to 20 f. ODOSTOMIA. 153 Var. 1. Oxwich Bay near Swansea, and Cork Harbour (J. G. J.). Fossil at Palermo (Philippi). Living in Norway (Loven), Denmark (mus. Copenh.), Loire-In- ferieure (Cailliaud), Arcachon (Fischer, as 0. Moulin- siand), Gulf of Lyons (Martin), Antibes (Mace), and in sand from Rimini (J. G. J.). Var. 2. Many parts of our coasts, from Shetland to Guernsey, in the coralline zone. Searles Wood has described and figured the latter variety from the Coralline Crag as 0. pupa of Dubois. This is not uncommon in the Mediterranean, and M f Andrew has dredged it off Orotava. It is the 0. ob- long a of Macgillivray. This species cannot be well mistaken for 0. indistinct a (although the two names are inconveniently similar), if their shape and sculpture be compared ; the other species has, moreover, a truncated apex and is never fur- nished with a tooth. In distorted examples of the pre- sent species from Guernsey and co. Antrim the base is contracted, causing an expansion of the outer lip and a deep umbilicus. The following description of Adams's Turbo inter- stinctus (Linn. Trans. 1795) evidently does not apply to O. interstincta : — " T. testa lsevi, quinque anfractibus costa tenui interstinctis. Obs. Color albus, apertura subrotunda." Our shell is not smooth, nor are the whorls divided by a slight rib ; and the mouth is not roundish. That description may have been taken from a worn specimen of Rissoa semistriata. The present species is much more likely to have been his Turbo cu- nalicuJatus. It is also apparently Rissoa Deshayesiana of Reclnz, whose collection I unfortunately have not yet, in accordance with his kind promise, had the privilege of seeing. Brown's Pyramis Lamar ckii, P. lacteus, and Jaminia obtusa, and Leach's Turbonella Montaguana may n 5 154 PYRAMIDELLID.E. also be referred to the same category of probable syno- nyms. The variety terebellum agrees with Requierr's too succinct notice of Chemnitzia perlata. 24. O. spiralis*, Montagu. Turbo spiralis, Mont.' Test. Br. (ii.) p. 323, t. 12. f. 9. 0. spiralis, F. & H. iii. p. 299, pi. xcvii. f. 2, and (animal) pi. FR f. 8, 9. Body clear white, delicately suffused with snow-white points of different sizes [white (Loven), sulphur-yellow (F. & H.)] : snout of moderate length [narrow and entire (Loven)], flattened, and rounded in front, extending from the tentacular membrane beyond the foot : tentacles united at the base in front and widely diverging, short, flat and broad, " setose ' : [?], with a snow- white line from base to point and a round flake-white dot at each of their tips : eyes large and black [near each other (Lo- ven)], placed behind the fork of the tentacles, on their internal angles : foot rather broad, slightly auricled, and sinuated on each side ; sole slightly grooved lengthwise in the middle [notched in front (Loven)] ; tail rounded when the animal is at rest or at half stretch, and bluntly pointed in full march. (Clark.) Shell conic-oval, inclining to oblong, with a wide base which is somewhat angulated, rather solid, semitransparent and glossy : sculpture, numerous strong and straight or slightly curved longitudinal ribs, broader than the interstices, about 30 on the body-whorl ; they are cut off at the periphery by the first of a series of spiral stria? that revolve round the base and are in number from 6 to 8 ; these striae- are often closely punc- tured, owing to a decussation in that part by longitudinal ribs which have otherwise disappeared, and they become less distinct as they approach the base ; the apex of the shell is (juite smooth : colour white : spire pyramidal, and ending in a blunt point ; nucleus obliquely twisted inwards : whorls 5-6, convex but flattened, rapidly enlarging, and abruptly shelving towards the suture ; the last occupies about three-fifths of the shell : suture narrow and deeply excavated, nearly straight : mouth irregularly rhomboidal, forming an acute angle above and considerably expanded below ; its length equals two-fifths of the whole spire : outer lip sinuous, contracted on the upper part, sloping upwards to the under side of the periphery : inner * Wreathed. ODOSTOMIA. 1 5c 00 lip more or less distinct on the upper part of the pillar, accord- ing to the degree of maturity of the specimen, in other respects like 0. interstincta, but not so straight on the lower part as in that shell, and terminating in an obtuse angle : umbilicus con- sisting of a more conspicuous chink than in the last-named species : tooth very short, blunt and obscure, being seated far within the pillar : operculum as in 0. interstincta ; the inner side is slightly notched to receive the tooth. L. 0-125. B. 0*05. Habitat : Equally distributed with the last species, and inhabiting the same zones. Fossil : Dalmuir (Robertson and Crosskey) ; glacial and post-glacial shell-banks in Norway, the former at 400-460 feet, and the latter at 50-100 feet (Sars). F^ecent : Norway, as far north as Oxfjord in Finmark, 10-40 f. (Sars) • Swe- den, 10-17 f. (Loven and Malm) ; Cattegat (mus. Co- penh.) ; Loire-Inferieure, among Corallina officinalis (Cailliaud) ; Rochelle (D'Orbigny pere) ; off Gibraltar, 8-30 f. (M' Andrew) . Specimens in my collection from Shetland are covered with Ttiscorbina globularis. Some are distorted in the same way as those which I noticed when treating of 0. interstincta. The strise which encircle the base of the shell distinguish the present from any other species. It is the Voluta pellucida of Dillwyn. A worn speci- men was described by Macgillivray as O. plicata. 25. O. exi'mia*, Jeffreys. Rissoa eximia, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. new ser. iv. p. 299. Chem- nitzia eximia, F. & H. app. p. 278, pi. xc. f. 1 (as B. eximia). Shell oblong, rather solid, semitransparent and glossy : sculpture, fine curved longitudinal ribs, which do not reach the base ; 15 or 16 of them may be counted on the last whorl ; these (or more frequently their interstices) are crossed by 3 spiral strise or finer ribs, which traverse the middle of this whorl, and give a partially cancellated appearance to the shell ; the next whorl has 2 or 3 similar stride near the base, the * Uncommon. 156 PYRAMIDELLIDiE. lowermost being partly concealed by the suture ; the succeed- ing whorl exhibits 2 striae only ; the top whorl is smooth : colour white : spire tapering to a rounded point ; nucleus glo- bular, and twisted inwards in various directions : whorls 4—5, very convex and almost tumid, gradually enlarging ; the last occupies more than half the shell : suture very deep, and nearly straight : mouth proportionally small, oval, expanded below ; its length scarcely equals one-third of the whole spire : outer lip rounded, recurved on the lowermost spiral stria : inner lip nearly indistinct on the upper part, gently curved and slightly reflected below, and terminating at the base in an obtuse-an- gled point: umbilicus extremely small and narrow, but distinct : tooth minute, somewhat retired, and obscure. L. 0-06. B. 0*03. Habitat : The deep-water zone in east Shetland from 60° to 61° N. lat.; also in the Minch, off Loch Ewe, Ross-shire, in 60 f. (J. G. J.). This minute shell, not much larger than O. minima, was discovered by Mr. Barlee. I have never found living specimens, although some had evidently not long been vacated by the animal. Sars has recorded this remark- able species as fossil in post-glacial shell-banks near Skien in the Christiania district, at a height of 100 feet, and as living at Oxfjord, Bergen, and Christianiafiord; Lilljeborg also dredged it at Bergen, and obligingly gave me a specimen for comparison. Clark described it as Chemnitzia Barleei — a well-de- served compliment to the discoverer, but an unnecessary synonym. Turbonilla eximia of A. Adams, one of his recent discoveries in Japanese waters, is not the present species. 26. O. fenestra'ta*", Forbes. O. fenestrata, (Forbes) Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 2nd ser. ii. p. 345. Chemnitzia fenestrata, F. & H. iii. p. 249, pi. xciii. f. 6, 7. Body nearly clear white, with a frosted aspect ; the neck is marked on each side, as far as the tentacles, with a pale lead- * Covered with latticework, like a window. ODOSTOMIA. 157 coloured stripe of unequal breadth, which is composed of very minute points so as to give the stripes a mottled look ; a tinge of the same colour pervades the basal portion of the tentacles and upper surface of the foot : mantle having a small offset at the upper angle : snout long and slender, greatly thickened at its base, and much compressed towards the other extremity, which is slightly funnel-shaped : tentacles comparatively long and slender, united at the bases, and having very distinct white inflated tips : eyes conspicuous, close together, and imbedded at the inner angles of the tentacles : foot in slow march short, broad and obtuse ; but when the pace is accelerated it becomes attenuated and extends to the bottom of the penultimate whorl; it makes in front a concave sweep, ending on the right and left in very slight ear-shaped points ; it has a somewhat lanceolate shape behind. (Clark.) Shell forming an elongated pyramid, rather solid, almost opaque, glossy : sculpture, numerous fine and oblique or sometimes tlexuous longitudinal ribs which do not reach to the base ; the last whorl has about 20 of these ribs ; they are in- terrupted at the periphery and crossed by 3 prominent spiral ridges placed near together, which occupy the middle of the body -whorl, and there is also another but slighter spiral ridge (and occasionally a 5th, rudimentary one) below the periphery; the lower part of each of the upper whorls has 2 ridges ; the points where the ridges cross the ribs are nodulous or tuber- cular ; the top whorl is smooth : colour whitish : spire remark- ably turreted, in consequence of each whorl being broader at the base than the upper part of the succeeding whorl, and ap- pearing to overlap the suture in an imbricated manner ; nucleus somewhat excentric and prominent, abruptly twisted inwards : whorls 8-9, compressed or shelving upwards towards the suture, and moderately convex on the lower part ; the last occupies about one-third of the shell : suture deep and slightly oblique : mouth proportionally small, rhomboid-oval, contracted above, wide, slightly expanded, and decidedly angulated below; length scarcely exceeding one-sixth of the spire : outer tip gently rounded, recurved on the lowermost of the 3 main spiral ridges, by all of which it is notched or indented at the edge : inner lip forming on the upper part of the pillar a thin film which is united with the outer lip, on the lower part nearly straight and not much reflected, terminating in a rectangular point : umbi- licus wanting, or now and then represented by a minute and narrow chink : tooth or fold none in any of the specimens (more 158 PYRAMIDELLID/E. than 50) which I have examined : operculum thin, exquisitely and closely striated in the line of growth. L. 0-15. B. O05. Habitat : Muddy ground, in 7-12 f., Dartmouth (M/ Andrew and Forbes), Southampton (M' Andrew), Exmouth (Clark and Barlee), Torbay (Hanley and others), Fowey (Barlee), Falmouth (Hockin), St. Cathe- rine's Bay, Jersey (Norman). Loire-Inferieure (Cail- liaud) ; Vigo Bay, 4 f. (M f Andrew) ; Spezzia (Marquis J. Doria and J. Gr. J.) ; in sand from Rimini, nearly 40 years ago (J. G. J.) ; Algiers (Weinkauff) . A specimen which I dredged in Torbay exemplifies the mode of growth under accidental conditions. It had been broken ; and a new outer whorl smaller than the preceding one was added, followed by another which increased in size at the usual rate ; so that the shell had the appearance of being double, one placed above the other. The egg-capsule is semiglobular, attached by its round and broad base, membranous and thin ; when the fry are developed, they find their way out through an oval hole in the centre of the upper part, which then becomes enlarged from what was at first a narrow slit. This is the Turhonilla Weinkauffi of Professor Dunker. Parthenia fenestrata, lately described by Mr. Arthur Adams, from Japan, is a different species; such du- plicate names must be changed. 27. O. excava'ta*, Philippi. Rissoa excavata, Phil. Moll. Sic.i. p. 154, t. x. f. 6. 0. excavata, F. & H. iii. p. 305, pi. xcvii. f. 3, 4. Shell pyramidal, solid, opaque, rather glossy: sculpture, prominent spiral ridges, of which there are 3 on the main part of the body-whorl, and 2 short ones on the base, the last being close behind the pillar-lip ; the 3 principal ridges are equi- distant, one just below the suture, another in the middle, and the lowermost encircling the periphery ; each of the other * Hollowed out. ODOSTOMIA. 159 whorls has 2 similar ridges, representing the upper two of the body- whorl ; all the ridges are crossed obliquely by sharp and raised longitudinal ribs, which extend to the base and impart a strongly and deeply cancellated appearance, the points of in- tersection being nodulous or tubercular; of the longitudinal ribs about 2o may be counted on the last whorl of a full-grown individual; the top whorl is smooth: colour white: spire tapering to a bluntly rounded point ; nucleus somewhat ex- centric, and twisted inwards : whorls 6, turreted, flattened (except for the angularity caused by the excavated sculpture), and gradually enlarging ; the last occupies rather more than half the shell: suture broad and remarkably deep, slightly oblique : mouth squarish-oval, not contracted above, expanded and angulated below; length about one-third of the spire: outer lip projecting, marked by four angular points, being the terminations of the spiral ridges ; it is abruptly recurved on the peripheral ridge : inner lip slight on the upper part, but united with the outer lip, reflected and almost straight below, where it also joins the outer lip at a right angle : umbilicus narrow and contracted, but distinct: tooth small and retired, although visible m every specimen, and winding round the pillar. L. 0-15. B. 0*06. Habitat : Coralline zone in Jersey (Dodcl) , Guernsey (Metcalfe, Barlee, and J. G. J.), Falmouth (Hockin), Fowey and Burrow Island (Barlee), Exmouth (Clark), Miltown-Malbay, co. Clare (Harvey and Humphreys), Turbot-bank, off Larne (Waller), Lamlash Bay, N.B. (Landsborough, Beau, and Norman). Cailliaud has taken it, among Corallina q^cma /is, in the Depart ement of Loire-Infer ieure, Gay at Toulon, Mace at Cannes and Antibes, the Marquis J. Doria and myself at Spezzia, von Schrockinger and Brasilia in the Adriatic, Philippi in Sicily, and Weinkauff at Algiers in 5-20 f. Mediter- ranean specimens are much smaller than ours. Professor Harvey, the discoverer of this species on our coasts, proposed to call it Cinyula sculpta; Mr. Thompson of Belfast described it as Rissoa Harveyi ; and in Mr. Hanley's ' British Marine Conchology ■ it bears the name of Partkenia turrita, Metcalfe, MS. 160 PYRAMIDELLID^l. 28. O. scala'ris*, Philippi. Melania (afterwards Ckemnitzia) scalaris, Phil. Moll. Sic. i. p. 157, t. ix. f. 9. C. scalaris, F. & H. iii. p. 251, pi. xciv. f. 5, and (animal) pi. FF. f. 5. Body nearly clear frosted-white, or pale red-brown [of a brownish -madder hue (F. & H.)] : mcwtle having a small cloven fold at the upper angle of the mouth of the shell s snout deeply notched in front, with the segments gently curved: tentacles rather long, strong, and divergent ; they do not quite coalesce at their bases, being separated by a distinct groove which is the continuation of one on the snout from the point where the notch ceases ; terminal bulbs not much developed : eyes black, not very close together : foot short, slightly auricled, and bluntly pointed behind. (Clark.) Shell forming a very elongated cone, moderately solid, opaque, rather glossy: sculpture, numerous laminar longitu- dinal ribs, varying in number from 25 to 30 on the body- whorl ; they are sometimes nearly straight, at other times set obliquely, or curved, occasionally nexuous, and they seldom extend to the base ; their interstices are crossed by fine and more close-set spiral striae, which are often arranged in pairs and cover the base ; no cancellation is produced, because the ribs are always more prominent than the striae; the top whorl is, as usual, smooth : colour pale -yellowish or creamy, with frequently 2 or 3 faint tawny bauds round the last whorl (one broader in the middle, another below the periphery, and sometimes a third under the suture) ; the preceding whorls have only the upper band or that and the middle one : spire tapering somewhat abruptly to a rounded point, which forms the nucleus or crown ; this is remarkably prominent, and, although twisted inwards, it exposes nearly the whole of the reversed portion of the spire : whorls 8 (exclusive of the nucleus), turreted, convex but com- pressed, and gradually enlarging ; the last occupies about two- fifths of the shell : suture deep, slightly oblique : mouth irre- gularly rhomboidal, owing to the angular shape of the pillar- side ; it is somewhat contracted above and expanded below ; length about a fourth of the spire : outer lip rounded, not much projecting, incurved a little below the periphery : inner lip adhering to the upper slope of the pillar (although scarcely perceptible), straight below, and slightly reflected towards the base, where it shelves inwards: umbilicus or tooth none: oper- * Resembling a flight of steps. ODOSTOMIA. 161 culum thin and flexible, irregularly striated ; spire extremely short, minute and terminal. L. 0-25. B. 0-085. Yar. rufescens. Body white, slightly tinged with brown : snout rather narrow and bilobed : tentacles longish, lanceolate, and set well apart : eyes placed almost centrally at the bases of the tentacles : foot oblong, lanceolate, obtusely angled in front, triangular behind. (F. & H.) Shell longer in proportion to its breadth, and thinner, having the whorls more convex and the ribs crowded and slighter, so as to give a less turreted ap- pearance ; colour more uniformly tawny, with darker bands. Chemnitzia rufescens, (Forbes) F. & H. iii. p. 253, pi. xciv. f. 1, and (animal) pi. FF. f. 6. Habitat : Coralline zone, Guernsey (Hanley, Barlee, and J. G. J.), Land's End (Hockin), Dartmouth (M f An- drew), Torquay (Battersby), Exmouth (Clark), Tenby (Lyons), Milford Haven (Forbes and M f Andrew), Good- wick Bay, Pembrokeshire (J. G. J.), Dublin coast (Ball and Warren, fide Thompson, as Eulima Jeffrey sii) . Its foreign distribution extends from Cherbourg (Mace) to Vigo Bay and Gibraltar (M f Andrew), and throughout the Mediterranean, to the iEgean, at depths Varying from 8 to 35 f. The variety has a more northern habi- tat, viz. Lough Strangford (Dickie), co. Antrim (Hynd- man, Waller, and J. G. J.), Aberdeenshire (Macgilli- vray and Dawson), west coast of Scotland, and Shet- land. A specimen of this variety is in Mr. Searles Wood's collection of Crag fossils in the British Museum. Sars has dredged it in Finmark, Danielssen and others in the lower parts of Norway, Loven and Malm in Bohuslan, Totten and Professor Adams in Massachusetts, and Stimpson in New England. These give a bathy- metrical range of 20-60 f. for the European, and 3 f. for the last-named American locality. One of my specimens in Mr. Clark's collection from Exmouth has the sculpture of the body-whorl the same as that of the variety, while the sculpture of the 162 PYRAMIDELLID^. rest of the shell is as usual in the typical form. The Milford specimens appear also to be intermediate. The variety is the Turrit ella indistincta of Fleming, T. interrupt a of Totten, and Eulima decussata of Mac- gillivray. 29. O. rufa*, Philippi. Melania (afterwards Chemnitzia) rufa, Phil. Moll. Sic. i. p. 156, t. ix. f. 7. C. rufa, F. & H. iii. p. 245, pi. xciii. f. 4. Body of a clear pale-azure colour, irregularly aspersed with snow-white Hakes : snout extending from the conjoined ten- tacular membrane to a little beyond the foot, and forming a sort of head- veil ; it is long, flat, and bilobed : tentacles short, broad, very little folded, and diverging ; tips rounded : eijes placed on the inner bases of the tentacles : foot large, mode- rately long, auricled in front, tapering behind to a point when at full stretch, but rounded when at rest. (Clark.) Shell forming an attenuated cone, moderately solid, opaque, and glossy : sculpture, narrow and shallow longitudinal ribs, from 20 to 30 on the body- whorl ; they are nearly straight, and never reach the base, being sharper and more distinct on the upper whorls ; their interstices are crossed, and the base encircled, by rather broad impressed lines, of which there are from 8 to 10 below the periphery, and 4 to 6 above it ; these lines, when magnified, appear double, or sometimes composed of several threads ; the whole surface is covered with micro- scopic and close-set striae in the line of growth ; nucleus quite smooth : colour pale-fawn or tawny, with frequently a narrow reddish-brown or orange band round the middle of each whorl: spire greatly elongated, tapering to a rounded point which forms the nucleus ; this is remarkably prominent and exposes the reversed and compact spire of the embryo, which bends downwards on the first regular whorl in various directions: tuJiorls 10-13 (exclusive of the nucleus), convex although more or less compressed, and gradually enlarging ; the last occupies from a third to a fourth of the shell : su- ture narrow and deep, slightly oblique : mouth irregularly rhomboidal, acute-angled above and expanded below ; length from a fifth to a sixth of the spire : outer lip somewhat con- tracted, very little incurved below the periphery : inner lip * Keddish. ODOSTOMIA. 163 forming a thin film on the upper slope of the pillar, slightly refleeted and nearly straight below : umbilicus none, except a slight depression of the base in adult specimens : tooth very retired, slight, and indistinct, formed on the pillar near its junction with the upper slope of the base : operculum as in the last species. L. 0-35. B. 0*1. Yar. fulvocincta. Body whitish : snout long and bilobed : tentacles leaf- like, rather short and broad, set well apart : eyes small, sessile on the inner bases of the tentacles : foot squarish in front, with small angular corners, and pointed behind. Shell more slender than the typical form, with a narrower base, and of a thinner texture : colour whitish, the Land being always present and more conspicuous : whorls not so much compressed. TurriteMa fulvocincta, Thompson in Ann. k, Mag. N. H. v. p. 98. Chemnitzia fulvocincta, F. & H. app. p. 276, pi. xciii. f. 3, and (animal) pi. FF. f. 4, as G. rufa. Habitat : Coasts of Cornwall, Devon, and Dorset, in trawl-refuse and at comparatively small depths ; Lang- land and Oxwich Bays near Swansea, in 15 f., and Fish- guard in 8 f. (J. G. J.) ; Tenby (Lyons) ; Anglesea (M f Andrew) . A local or rare species. Coralline Crag at Sutton, according to S. Wood; but his specimens appear to belong to a different and probably an extinct species. It has an extensive range southward, along the Atlantic coasts of France, Spain, Portugal, Madeira, and the Canary Isles, and also throughout the Mediterranean and Adriatic, at depths of from 8 to 30 f. The variety occurs on our northern, Scotch, and Shetland coasts, from the Dogger bank to Unst, at various depths from 30 to 90 f., and in the north, east, and south of Ireland. Sars has recorded it as fossil from a post-glacial shell- bank at Skien, 70-80 feet above the sea; he and many other Scandinavian naturalists have enumerated the same variety as living in Sweden and Norway, at depths of from 20 to 60 f. My largest specimen, which is from Exmouth, mea- sures half an inch in length ; and a fragment of another 164 PYRAMIDELLIDiE. (from Shetland) represents even a larger size. I regard the typical form as southern or inhabiting shallower water, and the variety as northern or inhabiting greater depths. This may be the Turbo simillimus of Montagu, which he described from a specimen (probably a bleached and worn one) said to have been found by Laskey on the shores of Jura — although he omitted to notice the in- terstitial striae. It is the Pyramis crenatus of Brown, Chemnitzia fasciata of Requien, and Turritella Danmo- niensis of Leach, whose Turbonella Hibernica may be the variety. With respect to the species described by me in the 1 Annals and Magazine of Natural History ' (ser. 2. ii. p. 347) as 0. formosa, and well figured by Forbes and Hanley (pi. xciii. f. 5) as Chemnitzia formosa, I am bound to say that I am not satisfied about the origin of the specimen on which the description and figure were founded. I received it from the late Mr. Gr. B. Sowerby as having been collected at Shellness in Kent; but I suspect that he was misinformed, and that the shell is exotic. The other specimens which I referred to this species are 0. rufa, Y&r.fulvocincta. O. formosa is cer- tainly distinct, however, from any other known species ; it is remarkably slender, with flattened whorls and a deeply channelled suture, which makes the spire appear scalariform. 30. O. lac'tea*, Linne. Turbo lacteus, Linn. S. N. p. 1238. Chemnitzia elegantissima, F. & H. iii. p. 242, pi. xciii. f. 1, 2. Body clear white : mantle even, with hardly a trace of the usual branchial fold : snout or upper flap -skin (mentum) deeply grooved in the middle on the upper surface, and entire at the * Milk-white. ODOSTOMIA. 165 extremity, which is rounded when at rest, and apparently truncated when carried before the foot on the march : tentacles short, very bluntly pointed and leaf-like, having large and extremely flexible lateral membranes which coalesce for half their height, and are capable of instantaneously assuming various shapes : eyes at a little distance from the internal line of the tentacular bases : foot truncated in front, very slightly auricled, narrow, not very long, attenuated and tapering be- hind to a rounded broad termination : opercular lobe obscure. (Clark.) Shell forming a greatly elongated cone, rather solid, nearly opaque, and glossy : sculpture, strong, narrow, and close-set longitudinal ribs, from 20 to 2b on the last whorl ; they are more or less curved or flexuous, and placed obliquely, and they terminate abruptly a little below the periphery, the base being perfectly smooth ; although no other sculpture is visible with a low magnifying-power, the whole surface of a live spe- cimen exhibits under the microscope extremely numerous spiral lines ; the first whorl is glabrous : colour milk-white, with a slight bluish tinge in live specimens : spire tapering to a rounded point ; embryonic nucleus as in the last species : whorls 12 (exclusive of the nucleus), moderately convex, and gradually enlarging ; the last occupies from a fourth to a third of the shell : suture narrow and deep, slightly oblique : mouth irregularly rhomboidal, longer and more expanded at the base than in 0. rufa, but similar in all other respects : outer lip gently rounded, except under the periphery, where it is very slightly incurved and shelves outwards : inner lip forming a thin glazing or layer on the upper slope of the pillar, very little reflected and nearly straight below, where it is more ex- tended than in the last species : umbilicus none : tooth usually wanting ; but in some specimens an obscure tubercle may be detected on the upper part of the pillar, far within the mouth : operculum as in the last two species, sometimes slightly notched on the inner side to accommodate the tooth when present. L. 0-35. B. 0-1. Var. pauUula. Dwarfed and depauperated. Habitat : English, Bristol, and St. George's Chan- nels, all Ireland, and the west coast of Scotland, as far north as Loch Ewe; Aberdeen (Macgillivray) ; Dunbar (Laskey,j?fife Brown); Sandwich (Walker); Roach River* 166 PYRAMIDELLIBiE. Essex (J. G. J.). A common but most elegant shell. It is found living at low-water mark of spring tides, and in the laminarian zone, as well as dredged without the animal in the coralline zone. Post-tertiary deposit in Sussex (Godwin- Austen); ? Norwich Crag (Wigham, fide S. P. Woodward); ? Coralline Crag (S.Wood); Italian tertiaries (Risso, as Turbonilla plicatula, and Philippi) . The variety has occurred to me in several localities ; this is far less slender or needle-shaped than the Chemnitzia gracilis* of Philippi, for which I at one time mistook it. Beyond our shores the present species is widely distributed, from Tromso in Finmark (Sars) to the Canary Isles (D'Orbigny and M f Andrew), and in every part of the Mediterranean and Adriatic; iEgean (Forbes). The Red Sea is given by Philippi, on the authority of Hemprich and Ehrenberg, but, it seems, erroneously. No mollusk is at present known to be common to the Red Sea and Mediterranean. The depths recorded by various authors range from the shore to 50 f. One of my specimens, which wants the first 4 whorls, has no fewer than 12 left, and is nearly six-tenths of an inch long. Mr. Bretherton says, in the ' Zoologist ' for 1858, that it will continue lively in the aquarium for at least a month. There can surely be no valid reason why any well ascertained name, given by the " princeps naturae curio- sorum^ (7roSe? Sr) k6i6l TifiKOTaroi) to a species de- scribed in his ' Systema Naturae/ should sink into ob- livion. In the present instance there is no ambiguity of definition, no question of identification, no risk of increasing the confusion which unfortunately pervades our scientific nomenclature. If the author, indeed, had * Not Turbo gracilis of Brocchi, which is a miocene fossil, nor C. gra- cilis of De Koninck, which is palaeozoic. ODOSTOMIA. 167 been obscure or local, instead of cosmopolitan, I should have hesitated at adopting the name in preference to one subsequently proposed by some naturalist of equal reputation, but which was in general use. It is true that the restoration of ancient names, however ac- credited, may for a time cause some inconvenience, and oblige many to go to school again ; but is not the latter a condition of scientific and even intellectual existence ? Let us, therefore, not be too indolent, nor too selfish. Posterity has its claims j and I write (as every one does on a subject of natural history) not only for this gene- ration, but for all those to succeed it. After Linne, this species was (although loosely) described and figured bv Pennant as Turbo albus. bv Donovan as T. acutus, by Adams as T. subarcuatus, by Montagu as T. elegan- tissimus, by Scacchi as Rissoa turritella, and by Philippi as Melania Campanella. Risso misquoted Montagu in describing his Eulima elegantissima, which appears to be our E. polita. A specimen having the ribs some- what more oblique than usual was described by Leach as Cerithium Spencerianum. 31. O. push/la* Philippi. Ckemnitzia pusilla, Phil. Moll. Sic. ii. p. 224, t. xxviii. f. 21. Body differing from that of 0. lactea in the following parti- culars : — the snout has a palish purple streak on either side ; each of the tentacles is marked with a similar streak ; when spread, they have the lateral membranes united almost to the tips, which are minute and acutely pointed, so that the ten- tacles then appear like a single united leaf; the foot is much longer, extending on the march to the last whorl but two, and terminating in almost a needle-point ; whilst in the other species, under the same circumstances, it is quite rounded, and does not reach beyond the last or body-whorl. (Clark and Bretherton.) * Little. 168 PYRAMIDELLID.E. Shell shorter and more cylindrical than 0. lactea, being of nearly equal breadth throughout, instead of jDyramidal and becoming gradually broader towards the base ; it is also more solid ; the ribs are always curved, but not set obliquely, and they do not terminate quite so abruptly below the periphery ; the whorls, although equal in number, are more rounded and com- pact, those near the apex rapidly increasing, so as to give that part a quasi-truncated appearance ; the base is usually more contracted ; and the tooth (or rather the fold or plait) is fre- quently visible, just below the angle formed by the pillar with the upper slope of the base, and by breaking the shell this may be traced winding round the pillar. L. 0-275. B. 0*075. Habitat : With the last species, but hitherto noticed as found only in the undermentioned places : — St. Catherine's Bay, Jersey (Norman) ; Guernsey, Lul- worth, and Torbay (J. G. J.) ; Littleham Cove, Ex- mouth (Clark) ; Burrow Island (Barlee) ; Falmouth (Hockin) ; Barrycane, North Devon (Miss Jeffreys); and Ilfracombe (Alder). Loire-Inferieure, among Zostera marina (Cailliaud) ; Gibraltar (M f Andrew) ; Gulf of Lyons (Martin); Cannes (Mace); Spezzia (Marquis J. Doria and J. G. J.) ; Tarento (Philippi) ; and Algiers (Weinkauff). According to Mr. Bretherton, this species creeps quickly over the sand at the bottom and along the sides in an aquarium, but very frequently falls off the slippery surface of the glass ; the shell is dragged rather than borne. In comparing it with what Mr. Clark appro- priately calls its stately congener (0. lactea), size is not the only distinctive mark. A specimen of the present species as large as an ordinary one of the other, pre- sents all the peculiar characters which I have pointed out. In at least 100 specimens of each examined by me, not one occurred of an intermediate kind. Chemnitzia pusilla of the late Professor Adams (1850), from Jamaica, is a different species. ODOSTOMIA. 169 C. Eulimella. 32. 0. Scill.e^ Scacclii. Melania Settles, Scacchi, Notizie int. alle Conch, p. 51, no. 147. Euli- meUa Scillm, F. & H. iii. p. 309, pi. xcviii. f. 5, 6, and (animal) pi. FF. f. 7, as Chemnitzia M" Andrei. Body milk-white, microscopically speckled with flake-white : snout gibbous in front, with an auricle or lobe on each side : tentacles short, often folded inwards like a young and undeve- loped leaf, protruded horizontally : eyes small, black, placed close together behind the tentacles : foot long and broad, trun- cated in front, with rather acute angles or corners, abruptly ending behind in a minute point or tail. Suell forming a greatly elongated cone with a comparatively broad base, rather solid, semitransparent and of a polished lustre : sculpture none, except lines of growth ; the microscope, however, shows an infinite number of excessively minute and close-set spiral stria?, which permeate the tissue of the shell and are apparently connected with its structure : colour, that of glass in live specimens, becoming white in dead ones : spire tapering to a rounded point ; nucleus exposed, twisted hori- zontally across the top of the first regular whorl, and resembling a young Spirialis retroversus: whorls 11-12 (exclusive of the nucleus), gradually enlarging, flattened (especially on the upper part), more or less angulated on the lower part and at the base of the shell, which is remarkably depressed and con- tracted inwards ; the last whorl occupies about one-third of the shell : suture very narrow, slightly excavated, and nearly straight ; it appears, like many of its congeners, edged by a darkish band on the upper part of each whorl, owing to the periphery of the preceding whorl being visible through the partial transparency of the shell: mouth irregularly rhomboidal, contracted above and expanded below ; length between a fourth and a fifth of the spire : outer lip curved, except the upper side, which shelves gently outwards a little below the periphery : inner lip, a mere film on the upper slope of the base, somewhat reflected and straight below: timbilicus usually none, although the above-mentioned depression of the base sometimes produces a small central cavity : tooth obscure, in one specimen like that of a pusilla. L. 0-35. B. 0-1. Yar. compadilis. Shell thinner, much smaller, and not so strongly keeled. L. 0-1. B. 0-03. * Dedicated to the memory of an Italian naturalist and poet of the 17th century. VOL. IV. I 170 PYRAMIDELLID^:. Habitat: Muddy sand in 12-87 f., Shetland and west of Scotland; Aberdeenshire (Dawson); Whitburn (Abbes and Howse, fide Alder) ; Berwick Bay and off Coquet Island (Mennell) ; Larne, co. Antrim (Hynd- man and Waller), perhaps from a post-glacial deposit; Land's End (Hockin). Of the variety Mr. Barlee dredged one specimen, and I another, in the Hebrides ; it may be a distinct species. The typical form is fossil at Gravina in South Italy (Scacchi), and Palermo (Phi- lippi) . Taken on many parts of the Scandinavian coast from Finmark to Bohuslan, in 15-200 f. (Loven and others), Croisic in Brittany (Cailliaud), Madeira, in 18-24 f., and the Canaries, in 20 f. (M f Andrew). When crawling, the animal trails its long shell hori- zontally behind it. The upper portion of the spire is now and then twisted a little on one side, as in species of Eulima. I named this well-marked shell Eulima crassula, and Forbes E. MacAndrei. 33. O. Ad'cuLA*, Philippi. Melania (afterwards Eulima) acicida, Phil. Moll. Sic. i. p. 158, t. is. f. 6. Eulimella acicida, F. & H. iii. p. 311, pi. xcviii. f. 9, 10. Body nearly clear frosted-white, mixed with minute snowy flakes : mantle having the usual small fold at the upper corner : snout rather long, very broad, square in front, where it is deeply notched in the middle so as to divide that part into two minute roundish lobes ; it is grooved the whole length, the groove being continued towards the neck, just separating the tentacles at their basal centre ; at its upper surface, close to the base, is the orifice for the proboscis : tentacles diverging almost at a right angle, and resembling short, broad, minute leaves, each marked with an opaque-white stripe or vein through the middle; they bevel to a fine edge, and can, with their large flexible margins * A small pin for a head-dress, used by Italian women in ancient and modern times. ODOSTOM1A. 171 [like the tentacles of all other species of Odostomla], simulate ear- shaped folds ; tips but slightly developed : eyes very black, not quite close to each other, and placed a little behind the inner bases of the tentacles : foot long (often extending on the march to the antepenultimate whorl) and very thin, square in front and expanding at the corners into rather sharp -pointed auricles, behind which it is gradually constricted towards the upper part of the body, and terminates in a narrow slender and acute point. (Clark.) Shell forming an attenuated and somewhat cylindrical cone, rather thin, semitransparent and of a polished lustre : sculpture, none to the naked eye or when examined with a hand lens, although, by applying the microscope with a high power, spiral striae similar to those observable in 0. Scillce may be here also detected : colour clear white or glassy in live specimens, milk- white in dead ones : spire gradually tapering to a blunt point ; nucleus like that of the last species : ivhorls 8-9 (besides the nucleus), regularly increasing in size ; they are usually flat- tened, but never angulated ; the last occupies from nearly half to a third of the shell : suture very narrow, slightly excavated, somewhat oblique, and margined in the manner described in my account of other species : mouth irregularly and obliquely rhomboidal, contracted or narrow above and expanded below ; length about one-fourth of the spire : outer lip gently curved on the lower part, shelving or sloping downwards from a little below the periphery : inner lip imperceptible above the pillar, slightly reflected and straight (but now and then recurved or twisted) below : uynbilicus none : tooth or fold rarely developed : operculum thin, and most delicately striated, with a very short spire. L. 0-175. B. 0-05. Yar. 1. turris. Shell of nearly equal breadth throughout, with rather convex whorls. Parthenia turns, Forbes, in Rep. Br. Assoc. 1843, p. 188. Yar. 2. ventricosa. Shell of a thinner or delicate texture, with tumid whorls and a deep suture. Parthenia ventricosa, .Forb. I. c. Eulimella ajjinis, F. & H. iii. p. 313, pi. xcviii. f. 7. Yar. 3. obeli scus. Shell smaller and narrower, with more compact whorls. 0. obeliscus, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 3rd ser. i. p. 46, pi. ii. f. 5. Habitat : Sand, with an admixture of mud, in the coralline zone, on different parts of the British coasts ; i 2 172 PYRAMIDELLID^. local and by no means common. Peach lias found it in the boulder-clay of Caithness, and Philippi in a post- tertiary bed at Palermo. It ranges north and south, from Upper Norway (M* Andrew and Barrett) and Ber- gen (Sars), through the Mediterranean and Adriatic, to the iEgean (Forbes), at depths of from 10 to 41 f. The 1st variety was procured by me in the Hebrides, and by Forbes in the iEgean ; it resembles the Chemnitzia niti- dissima of Searles Wood, a Crag fossil. The 2nd variety is rather widely distributed in our seas, from Guernsey to Shetland ; and it has been recorded as Dalmatian by Brusina, iEgean by Forbes, and Algerian by Weinkauff under Dunker's name of Eulima subcylindrica. This variety has also been found by M f Andrew in Upper Norway, by Loven in Bohuslan, by Martin in the Gulf of Lyons, by Mace at Antibes, and by Dummy at Ajaccio. Upwards of twenty years ago I referred the latter variety to the Eulima affinis of Philippi, but (as I am now convinced) erroneously. The size of that species is stated by him to be more than half as large again as 0. acicula ; and he compared it with E. nitida. I had previously described it under the name of Euli- mella gracilis, and Requien as Eulima turritellata. My present and more matured opinion coincides with that of Clark and Malm in uniting it with 0. acicula, because some specimens evidently form a passage from one to the other, and the distinction rests only on a single and variable character, viz. the comparative convexity of the whorls. The 3rd variety was dredged by Mr. Barlee in Skye and Shetland, and by Mr. Waller on the north-east coast of Ireland. Specimens from Tarbert in Loch Fyne are more or less eroded, and sometimes truncated, owing probably to certain chemical properties or ingredients of the water ODOSTOMIA. 173 in that inland gulf being unsuitable to the uniform com- position of the shell. 0. Scillce is much larger and more conical than the present species, and has an angulated base. The typical form is the Turbonilla producta of Loven and, apparently, the Pyramis Icevis of Brown. 34. O. nitidis'sima*, Montagu. Turbo mtidissimus, Mont, Test. Br. (ii.) p. 299, t. 12. f. 1. Aclis nitidis- sima, F. & H. iii. p. 223, pi. xc. f. 6, 7. Shell needle-shaped, very thin, transparent and lustrous : sculpture, none in worn specimens such as are usually picked out of shell-sand from the beach, but in live or fresh specimens it consists of extremely fine and regular spiral striae or im- pressed lines, which are slightly flexuous, rather widely and not close-set ; they are easily discernible with a Coddington lens : colour clear white : spire gracefully tapering to a blunt point ; nucleus entirely exposed and twisted obliquely upwards in various directions, resembling a miniature Spirialis : ivhorls 7 (besides the nucleus), very convex, and gradually enlarging ; the last occupies rather more than one-third of the shell : suture wide and deep, decidedly oblique, and microscopically notched across : mouth regularly oval, not much expanded below ; length about one-sixth of the spire : outer lip rounded, inflected just below the periphery : inner lip not so much curved, adhering to the upper slope of the base, where it is united with the outer lip, not reflected below : umbilicus and tooth none : operculum rather solid, delicately striated in the line of growth, and having a narrow flap. L. 0-1. B. 0-02. Habitat : Guernsey, Cornwall, Devon, Ireland (west, south, and east), Scarborough, Berwick, Moray Firth, Pentland Firth, West of Scotland, and Shetland, from 5 to 30 f. It has not occurred in any of our post-tertiary or quaternary deposits. I recognized in Professor Lill- jeborg's collection at Upsala specimens which he had dredged at Mangerfiord in Finmark, in M. Cailliaud's collection at Nantes smaller specimens found by him at * Most glossy. 174 IANTHINIDjE. low water among Gigartina mammillosa and Corallina officinalis on the Plateau du Four in Lower Brittany, and in M. Martin's collection at Martigues other speci- mens similar to the last from Cape Couronne in the Gulf of Lyons; and I took this species myself at Spezzia. It is the most slender of all the Odostomice. My largest specimen (Zetlandic), which is a line and a quarter in length, has a diameter in the widest part equal to one-fifth only of that dimension. Family XVII. IANTHI'NHLE, Deshayes. Recluzia is the only genus besides Ianthina that has any good claim to be a member of this select and pecu- liar group ; and as the systematic position of the former genus is somewhat doubtful, I will content myself with giving the characters of Ianthina only. De Blainville called the family Oxystoma, Brown lan- thinea, and Agassiz Ianthinoidce. Genus IAN'THINA* Bolten. PL III. f. 1. Body globular, with a short posterior convolution : mantle folded at the base of the shell, and expanding into two irregular flaps or lobes, that probably serve as imperfect natatory organs (" epipodial fins," Morch), and are fringed with fine cilia : head consisting of a thick, cylindrical, and occasionally swollen muz- zle, terminating in a cloven mouth, which is encircled with minute and flexible cilia ; and it is provided with a pair of carti- laginous jaws and a spinous tongue ; this latter organ is armed with very long and awl-shaped uncini or lateral teeth, arranged in two rows, but it has no rhachis or central tooth : tentacles conical, each furnished at its base with a short finger-shaped * From its violet colour. IANTH1NA. 175 offset or prong, so as to make the tentacles appear double or forked : eyes either wanting or said to be in certain species very small and indistinct and nlaced on the offsets of the tentacles : foot narrow, elongated, rounded in front and tapering behind ; it secretes a large oblong foam-like apparatus, formed of air- cells and serving as a float to keep the animal always buoyant : gills 2, unequal in size. Shell shaped like a Helix, with a broad and imperforate base, always of a purplish-blue or violet colour, but differently tinted according to the species : epidermis none : spire short, the last whorl being disproportionately large ; apex styliform, and obliquely twisted on one side, but never heterostrophe : mouth somewhat triangular, and wide ; lips disconnected : pillar more or less straight, ending in an angular point. No oper- culum. Did Edmund Spenser ever see Ianthince in their native haunts ? or were they visible to his inner eye only, when he wrote, " So likewise are all watr'y living wights, Still tost and turned with continual! change, Never abyding in their stedfast plights " ? Such is the wandering and restless course of the Ian- thina, floating passively on the surface of the ocean, with its shell downwards and its foot to the skies, the con- tinual sport of winds and waves, and driven hither and thither without choice, without hope of reaching any goal. But woe to them if they approach the shore ! That is not the haven where those sailors would be ; for here they are inevitably wrecked and stranded : it is thus that we claim one kind of Ianthina as a product of the British seas. The earliest notice which we find of this remarkable mollusk, or " blue snail, " is in the ' Opusculum de Pur- pura ' of Fabio Colonna (one of the many noble authors whose writings are not less illustrious than their names) , published at Rome in 1616. It contains a fair repre- 176 IANTHINID.E. sentation of the naked animal, with its forked tentacles, and the cellular apparatus or float hy which it is sus- pended in the water. This apparatus he compares to a mass of cartilaginous and glassy foam, or to a cluster of small soap-bubbles, such as the Neapolitan boys were in the habit of making for their amusement and launch- ing out of a window, balloon fashion, which he, perhaps feelingly, called "jocum non jucundum ! " The beau- tiful purplish-blue dye which is copiously emitted by the Ianthina, staining not only the hands of those who col- lect it but also white paper and linen, and which gives the shell its permanent colour, was likewise the theme of his learned and accurate observation. But either the simplicity or the prurience of the scientific language used in his time unfortunately prohibits the above ex- cellent treatise being now reproduced at greater length. Even some of the works of Linne, whose style was more severe than loose, are not free from what in the present day would be reckoned faults of indecency. Nearly a century after the date of Colomia's work Breyn again figured the animal of Ianthina, although badly. Further information seems to have been wanting until 1757, when Carburi, a noted Greek mechanician, briefly re- described it in a letter \o Marco Foscarini. He men- tions a strange notion entertained by his countrymen, viz. that the Ianthina produces the Velella, a well known kind of oceanic Hydrozoa, which usually accompanies the Ianthina and is wafted along by means of its erect gnomon-like crest. They consequently gave it the name of " Armenistarimane," compounded of two Hellenic words signifying mother of the sail-berry. That idea must have originated in the mollusk being sometimes found attached to the hydrozoon, as if the latter issued from it. Carburi had often seen this, and he observed IANTHINA. 177 that the Ianthina held the Velella bv its mouth, not unfrequently swallowing half of it ; he also on several occasions discovered young Velella in the stomach of an Ianthina. In 1776 the celebrated Eastern traveller Forskal gave, among other interesting particulars of the Ianthina, an account of its fry. The species which he examined was evidently a viviparous one, /. communis. He says that each of the fry has in front of its shell two transverse roundish lobes (vela) , covered with vibratory cilia, with which it rowed itself through the water. His further statement that the float adheres to the mantle of the animal, and his supposition that the ovary or matrix is placed in the proboscis, are incorrect. The figure given by Bosc is merely a copy of Colonna's ; he hazarded the unwarrantable assertion that the Ianthina absorbs the air contained in its float-cells and refills them at pleasure. Admirable details of the anatomy were published in the ' Memoires ' of Cuvier, who acknow- ledged the aid he received in these investigations from three zealous naturalists, MM. Homberg, Savigny, and Peron. He regarded the float as the rudiment of an operculum, transmuted by organic action; and he be- lieved that the animal could withdraw it into its shell, as well as that some individuals have naturally no float, or that it is only developed at a certain age or at a parti- cular season of the year. All these opinions would un- questionably have been modified, if not renounced, by the illustrious zoologist, had better opportunities oc- curred to him of examining the organization of this mollusk. Mr. Bennett tells us (Med. Gaz. 1834, p. 233) that when the Ianthina was purposely irritated, it had no power of withdrawing the float, which always remained stationary, even when the animal retired into its shell. Subsequent experiments have shown that this apparatus i 5 178 IANTHINID^. is necessary to the existence of the animal. While on this part of the subject I would call especial attention to a paper by Dr. Iteynell Coates, which appeared in the ' Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ' for 1826,, entitled " Remarks on the float- ing apparatus, and other peculiarities of the genus Ian- thina." The author's observations were made during a voyage to the East Indies. As to the mode in which the float is constructed, or rather repaired, he says that on a living specimen being placed in a tumbler of sea- water, and a portion of the appendage being removed by scissors, the animal very soon commenced supplying the deficiency in the following manner : — the foot was advanced upon the remaining vesicles until about two- thirds of it rose above the surface of the water ; it was then expanded to the uttermost, and thrown back upon the water, like the foot of a LimncBa when about to swim; in the next place it was contracted at the edges, and formed into the shape of a hood, enclosing a globule of air, which was slow T ly applied to the extremity of the foot. A vibratory movement could now be per- ceived throughout the foot, and when it was again thrown back to renew the process, the globule was found enclosed in its newly constructed envelope. The vesicular membrane is evidently secreted by the foot, and is probably of the same nature as the byssus and glutinous filaments of other mollusca. The shape of the float varies according to the species. He adds, " It does not appear that the janthinse ever sink below the surface, when they remain attached to the vesicle ; but when they are entirely separated, they immediately fall to the bottom of the tumbler, and are unable afterwards to rise from their position, and though they continue to be vigorous for some time, they generally die in a few IANTHINA. 179 days." Mr. Arthur Adams has also furnished some important information* with respect to the habits of the Ianthina and the structure of its float. He says, " The animal floats shell downwards, with the vesicular buoy above it directed backwards. The anterior part of the foot is mobile, free, rounded and dilated, and the sides are usually folded inwards, forming a shallow cup, which embraces the smooth anterior rounded end of the float. When the animal wishes to bring its head to the surface of the water, this part of the foot is made to glide over the back of the float. Thus the animal can raise and lower itself at pleasure by means of its own float." . . . . " When the animal is weakly or dead, the float readily becomes detached, for there is no organic connexion between it and the foot." [I may suggest, by way of parenthesis, that when an Ianthina is snapt up by a fish, its float would be detached and re- main on the surface of the water. This may account for the number of loose floats observed by Mr. Adams, Dr. Wallich, and others.] " When a portion is cut off, the float is enlarged at the end next the foot of the ani- mal, and is not regenerated at the excised part." .... " With a pair of sharp-pointed scissors I made incisions into the floats, and allowed the air to escape, when the animals gradually descended, and remained helpless at the bottom of the vessel : the floats were not regenerated or renewed during the period the animals remained alive. Crepitating portions, when separated, continue buoyant until the vesicles of which they are composed gradually collapse from the escape of the air with which they are distended; and the floats, when pounded in a mortar, are readily reduced to a mucus." Professor Lacaze- Duthiers has very lately (Ann. Sc. Nat. Dec. 1865) * Ann. & Mag. N. H. Dec. 1862. 180 IANTHIXID.fi. confirmed the observations of Dr. Coates and Mr. Adams. He had an opportunity in 1862 of examining several living specimens which were blown ashore in the Bay of Bouliff near Calles in Algeria. They were placed in an aquarium, where they commenced to put their damaged floats in repair. The float is formed with tolerable re- gularity, the cells of which it is composed being poly- gonal, owing to their mutual pressure. The original form of the cells, however, is circular, as may be seen in those on the extremities of the float. The foot of the animal is divided into two distinct parts. The hinder and larger part is flat, and to this the float adheres; the anterior part is rounded in front, and it is this part which constructs the float. Without the beautiful draw- ings which accompany the paper it will be difficult to give a clear idea of the modus operandi. The anterior part of the foot is extremely flexible, and the animal has the power of causing its extremity to assume a cup- shape ; when in this position the foot is laid on the float at the spot where a new cell is to be added, the edges of the foot embrace the float, and the extremity or point is raised up, out of the water, in the cup-shape already mentioned, so as to collect a small portion of air. The animal is now seen to move the foot backwards and for- wards, as if to secure the firm attachment to the float of a glutinous film or layer which at the same time exudes from the foot. When the animal removes its foot, this glutinous film has become a cell and remains attached, with its imprisoned air-bubble. M. Lacaze- Duthiers noticed that all the specimens which had lost their floats, although perfectly alive, remained at the bottom of the water, and that some of the more lively crept with the foot, slowly and painfully, up the sides of the vessel, and on reaching the top they turned on their IANTHINA. 181 backs, but usually without being able to make a new float ; these fell again heavily to the bottom and soon died. He never saw any swim, like other Gastropods. Clark combated the idea that the float or vesicular mass attached to the foot is a hydrostatic apparatus ; and he asserted that this organ is " the membranous vehicle of the contents of the ovarium and matrix, that has de- scended from under the mantle, and fixed itself to the foot, for a very obvious purpose of the animal economy in reference to the pulli in the genial season." I will not comment on this curious assertion further than by observing that every Ianthina of both sexes, viviparous as well as oviparous, has a float, and that the mode of its construction was fully explained more than a quarter of a century before Mr. Clark wrote. Ianthina can scarcely be considered gregarious, their locomotion being almost involuntary. It is only when driven to- gether by winds or currents that they appear to congre- grate in shoals near coast lines. Some of the old naturalists must have drawn largely on their bank of imagination in making up their accounts of the Ianthina. Born gravely assures us that it lives in the depths of the sea, and in stormy weather rises to the surface, shining with a phosphoric light. I do not know where he got this idle tale. All modern naturalists, who have observed the Ianthina during long voyages, speak of its appearance in fine weather, clotted here and there over the ocean. Dr. Wallich savs that in actual calms it was easy enough to see its floating standard, partly raised above the surface, but at other times it was only by dint of the keenest watching and getting gradually accustomed to detect the outline of the float, that he could distinguish it from the surrounding foam ; and he further remarks that the colour of the shell so nearly 182 IANTHTNID.E. approaches that of the waters of the open sea as to render it almost invisible, except at close quarters — as, for instance, from the gunwale of a boat. Mr. Benson (Ann. & Mag. N. H. 3rd ser. vi. p. 405) compares the float, seen under these circumstances, to a minute flock of cotton, broad at one end and pointed at the other. It is still a question whether any species of Ianthina is furnished with eyes. Risso describes the animal as having " les yeux pedoncules ; " but his authority is not infallible. Lesson and Rang also placed the eyes at the points of the tentacular prongs j D'Orbigny at the outer base of the tentacles. According to Arthur Adams, the " eyes are very small and indistinct, and are placed on a short peduncle on the outside of the conical tentacles."" He, however, has since given a different account, as fol- lows : — " The animal is entirely blind. I sought in vain for eyes, both at the base and apex of the longer, ex- ternal, pointed tentacle, and likewise at the truncated apex of the inner and shorter tentacular process. No trace of eyes was visible, although an accidental dark round spot of pigment may have been mistaken for these organs/' My own examination of specimens, preserved in spirits, of I. communis and /. globosa induces me to agree with the last observation : I could not detect any vestige of eyes. The habitat of the Ianthina is de- termined by the nature of its food, which principally consists of Velella and similar animals. Coates indeed found that some were cannibals, having in their digestive tube shells of other Ianthina, whose diameter was three times that of the oesophagus in its usual state. Its zoo- phagous tastes appear to be even more varied. "Al- though doubtless the chief food of Ianthina consists of Physalice, Porpitce, and Velellae, which are usually seen floating in its society, on the surface, in calm weather, IANTHINA. 183 yet an occasional Barnacle does not seem to come amiss to the blind Snail of the Ocean. From the stomachs of several I extracted fragments of the tufted feet of Lepas ; and in one which I examined the Z/?/ms- remains occupied the entire length of the oesophagus/' (A. Adams.) Mr. Benson says that when the snout is pro- truded, the flexible cilia round the mouth are extended and agitated with great rapidity, apparently in search of food. The top of the living shell is now and then crowned with a cluster of Lepas pectinata or of L. fas- cicularis. I may also mention, on the authoritv of Mr. Benson and Dr. Wallich, that the float is often infested with a small swimming crab of a brilliant blue colour like that of the shell ■ this uses the float as a raft. The sexes of Ianthina are separate. Fritz Muller has minutely described the spermatozoa of the male, which are clothed with long delicate microscopical hairs or filaments, forming a swimming-apparatus. As in Litto- ritia, so in the present genus, some species are oviparous, and others viviparous. In the former case the eggs, when excluded from the ovarv, are enclosed in cells, and v y y attached (probably by the foot of the parent) to the under side of the float, from which they hang thickly but separately. Achille Costa computed the number produced in the breeding- season by each individual at no less than a million. Owing to the pelagic and wan- dering habits of the animal, its own float would certainly be the best nidus it could have, if indeed anv other were at hand at the time of parturition. Professor Costa (not Achille) erroneously stated that the egg-cases at- tached to the float belong to another mollusk. It re- minds one of the famous controversy, which so long disturbed the peace of conchologists, about the supposed parasite that inhabited the shell of Argonauta, and (cue- 184 IANTHINID.E. koo-like) laid its eggs there. According to Philippi (Handbuch, p. 179) the fry of /. communis, before it is excluded from the matrix, has an operculum, and its velum or hood is furnished with vibratile cilia and two large black eyes. Embryonic shells of this species and of /. rotundata which I have examined under a micro- scope are nautiliform, of a yellowish-brown colour, and resemble in shape those of Stilifer. I could not discover an operculum in any of the specimens, although the mouth was closed by a film of dried animal matter. The Ianthina, when irritated, discharges a beautiful purple or violet-coloured liquid in considerable quantities. Captain Cook observed that each individual yields about a tea-spoonful. This liquid, says Mr. Adams, " is at first equally diffused, but shortly sinks to the bottom in the form of a deposit, leaving the water pellucid. The bag or reservoir containing the colouring- fluid is visible through the skin on the back of the neck ; and the fluid is poured direct into the branchial cavity, and makes its escape from under the free edge of the mantle. My dyeing operations with this purple fluid were not crowned with success, the beautiful colour fading gradually away, leaving magenta and mauve yet possessors of the field." It was suggested, in a review of the first volume of the present work, which appeared in the ' Parthenon ' of 21 June 1862, that the colour of this fluid is due to chloride of gold, and that the secretion is of a poisonous nature. I am no chemist ; and I regret that my literary glean- ings have not enabled me to solve the former problem. The origin of the colouring-matter of shells and other animal productions, as well as of that of vegetables, seems to be involved in nearly equal obscurity. Liebig attributed the red and blue colours of flowers to am- monia; but whence is the ammonia derived? We IANTHINA. 185 know that gardeners can produce differently tinted flowers in an Hydrangea or a Dahlia by the empirical application to the soil of certain mineral admixtures. Cannot Nature do as much for marine animals by a prescient combination of similar ingredients in the sea- water ? With respect to shells Mr. C. Stewart has satis- fied me that Littorina obtusata, when calcined or even subjected to the heat of a lamp-flame, quite loses its colour, which, he remarks, would not be the case if that colour had a mineral for its base. But many minerals possess an intense colour which thev lose entirely when heated to a certain temperature. This phenomenon has been lately explained by M. Wyrouroff of Moscow in the Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Paris. The late Professor Forchhammer, in a lecture on the metals in ashes of plants (Report of the Danish Association of Agriculturists, 1855) stated that manganese constitutes the colouring-matter of the brown rings or bands and lip of certain snails (e.g. Helix nemoralis) , — the snail getting the manganese from the plants on which it feeds, and these again from the soil. He also confirmed a discovery previously made by chemists, that the field and garden slugs contain copper, which occurs in wheat and other cultivated plants. Here I must for the present leave the question. The oceanic distribution of Ianthina is coextensive with that of the temperate and torrid zones, although it especially frequents the latter. None have been found in the arctic or antarctic seas, or in a fossil state. Five species occasionally visit our shores, being brought hither by the Gulf-stream and a continu- ance of westerly gales. One only I regard as British, and that not without considerable doubt. The systematic position of the genus is scarcely set- tled. Its founder, Bolten, associated with it several 186 IANTHINIDiE. widely dissimilar shells. Lamarck defined the genus and made it recognizable. It was at one time placed by the last-named author in his class Heteropoda, a di- vision based on the anomalous character of the foot and pelagic nature of the animal ; but this class was repu- diated by Cuvier, and is not maintainable in a scientific point of view. The organization of Ianthina does not differ in any essential respect from that of other Gas- tropods. Its synonyms are not numerous ; they are chiefly mere MS. names, viz. Neritoidea, Humphreys, Ianthinus, De Montfort, Amethistina, S chintz, lodes, Leach, and Achates, Gistel. The old Dutch naturalist Rumph called it " Quallebootje," translateable as the boat of a Holothuria ; and De Montfort agreed with him in the propriety of the name, believing that lan- tliina had a greater affinity to that animal than to the Mollusca ! Ianthina rotunda'ta*, Leach. /. rotundata (Leach, MS.), Dillwyn, Contributions towards a History of Swansea (1840), p. 59. /. communis, F. & H. ii. p. 549, pi. lxix. f. 6, 7, & cxxxiii. f. 1. Shell forming a depressed cone above and a shorter one below, somewhat globular, with a bluntly angulated periphery, thin, semitransparent, and glossy : sculpture, minute and close- set spiral striae, which are often wavy and interrupted by the flexuous lines of growth ; the base exhibits stronger interme- diate spiral striae : colour white, tinged with purple or mauve on the upper side, deepening into violet beneath ; a broad and deeper-hued band sometimes encircles the base, which is then whitish, like the upper side : the apex or nucleus is pale am- ber-colour: spire abrupt: ivhorls 4' (besides 3 which consti- tute the stiliform apex), swollen and bulging outwards, com- pressed and sloping towards the suture ; the last is three or four times the size of all the rest put together ; the apex or nucleus (which resembles in shape the shell of Stilifer Turtoni) * Bounded. IANTHINA. 187 is partly sunk within the spire, and obliquely turned in various directions : suture rather slight but distinct : mouth irregularly triangular ; the base of the triangle is the pillar, the lower part of which is reflected outwards, and forms a more or less sharp angle : outer Up gently incurved below the periphery, widely and deeply sinuated in the middle : inner lip consisting of a white film, which lines the upper side of the base within the mouth and is folded back on the under side over the pillar ; this is twisted and nearly perpendicular. L. 1*2. B. 1-35. Habitat : Occasionally cast on shore, from July to November, in the south and west of England and Ire- land, and the Bristol Channel. To these localities may be added the north of Ireland (Turton and Thompson) , Portrush, co. Antrim (Turton and Brown), Loch Ryan (James Smith), and Skye (Forbes, MS.). The foreign distribution of this species is doubtful ; I can only ven- ture to give Brittany (Cailliaud and Tasle), Madeira and the Canary Islands (M f Andrew), and probably the Azores (Drouet) . Dr. Morch informs me that no Ianthina or other oceanic animal has been observed on the shores of Denmark. When I found living specimens on the Welsh coast (nearly forty years ago) I was a boy, and cared for the shells only ; the animal did not then interest me. Clark's description of the latter is generic ; and that given by Forbes and Hanley seems to represent some species of the oviparous section, because it mentions the egg- vesicles. The present species is certainly viviparous. Young as well as adult specimens contain perfectly formed fry of a whorl and a half. The shell is some- times distorted, owing to an imperfectly repaired frac- ture, or to the mantle having been injured. In ' Lou- don's Magazine of Natural History ' for July 18-34 will be found an interesting notice by Dr. Turton of the appearance of this Ianthina in the small coves about the 188 IANTHINID.E. Land's End. He says it is there " occasionally wafted, by a gentle south-west wind, in prodigious fleets, all alive, and borne upon the water by their clusters of tough bubble-like vesicles. By the retreating waves most of them are carried back into the ocean ; so that it re- quires a fortunate combination of tide, wind, and wave to see them in all their splendour. This mostly happens about the months of July and August. The fishermen's wives call them bullhorns/'' According to M. Drouet the inhabitants of Pico in the Western Isles give these shellfish the name of " agoa viva/' and pretend that they fasten themselves on the limbs of persons bathing. Did they not mean the Physalia, or some animal of the Medusa kind? I do not consider the present species the Helix jan- thina of Linne or /. fragilis (afterwards communis) of Lamarck. That has a smaller and lilac- coloured shell, with a sharp peripheral keel ; and it is exotic. Our shell is the /. Brittanica of Leach's later MS., and /. communis of the Index to Wood's Supplement and of Brown's Illustrations ; the young has been figured and described by Reeve as /. Smithice. One manuscript name is as good as another; in adopting rotundata I select the oldest. Other species which have been carried northwards by the Gulf-stream, and driven ashore on our southern and western coasts, are /. communis, I. globosa of Swainson (a tropical species), /. pallida of Harvey (Straits of Magellan), and /. exigua of Bruguiere, from Chili and the South Atlantic. With respect to the last species, the late Professor Harvey told me that he once received a box of specimens, at least 500 in number, which a relation of his had picked up in a single day on the beach at Kilkee in county Clare, not one of them containing STILIFERID.E. 189 the animal. Several Spirilla were found at the same time. It shows the capability of certain shells keeping afloat during so extensive a voyage and for such a long time as must here have been the case. No species of Ianthina, except rotundata, has been noticed on our shores with the animal, alive or dead, in its shell. Family XVIII. STILIFE'EID^, (Sti/liferidce) H. & A. Adams. None but the typical genus Stilifer being known, it is superfluous to repeat the characters, which will be presently given in the generic description. This family is evidently distinct from any other, in respect of the quasi-parasitic habits of the animal, its tongueless and suctorial mouth, and the absence of an operculum. Genus STI'LIFER* Broderip. PL III. f. 2. Body spiral, covered with cilia : mantle folded on the right- hand side, so as to form, a slight branchial canal, and spread over the base of the shell: head snout-like, furnished with side-lobes, and terminating in an unarmed and suctorial mouth : tentacles cylindrical : eyes sessile, placed on the neck behind the tentacles : foot tongue-shaped, and partly tubular, with a slit in the sole : gill one only ? Sexes separate. Shell oval or elongated, not umbilicate : spire compact, with a stiliform and excentric apex : mouth roundish or oval ; lips disconnected : operculum none. The shell resembles the nucleus of that of Ianthina ; and the animal is also destitute of an operculum ; but * Stake-bearing ; or from its style-like apex. 190 STILIFERIDjE. that mollusk has a denticulated or spinous tongue, and the body is not ciliated. Their habits also are very dif- ferent. Eulima, although allied to the present genus, has a smooth body and an operculum, and it is not pa- rasitic ; nor is the apex of its shell style-like or irregular. For the discovery of this curious mollusk science is indebted to the indefatigable labours of Dr. Turton. In the ' Zoological Journal 3 for October 1825 an article by him, entitled " Description of some new British Shells," comprised one which he named Phasianella sty lifer a, and of Avhich he says, "we found a dozen of these beautiful little shells alive, and attached to the spines of the Echinus esculentus, dredged up in Torbay." Not many years afterwards Mr. Broderip made known the peculiar nature of the animal, in consequence of Mr. Cuming having brought home, amongst other con- chological rarities, specimens of another species (S. aste- ricola) burrowing or imbedded in a tropical kind of star- fish. Mr. Arthur Adams subsequently published an ac- count of another species (S. ovoideus) having the same apparently parasitic habits ; and our British species (S. Turtoni) has been repeatedly observed attached to several kinds of Echinus. Another species (S. Orbignyanus) having been detected by M. Hupe enclosed in the basal portion of the spines of a Cidaris, which had been en- larged for its accommodation, Dr. Fischer suspected that Stilifer is not a true parasite, and does not feed on the Echinoderms infested by it. I have come to a similar conclusion, from a careful and long- continued observa- tion of living individuals of S. Turtoni ; and I believe that Stilifer subsists on the excretions of Echinoderms. This opinion is founded on the facts that all the Sti- lifers, British and foreign, which I have seen (and they were numerous) invariably occupied only the area of STILIFER. 191 the vent or anal orifice of Echinoderms, and that some which I watched with close and almost unremitting attention for many hours, although they were most lively, nestling or slowly crawling about among the spines of an Echinus, never attempted to touch with the proboscis or mouth either the protruded suckers or the pedicel- lance of the Echinus, or any part of its investing mem- brane. As far as I have been able to observe, the Sti- lifer does not put its host to the slightest inconvenience. No Stilifer has been noticed in any other habitat ; and its connexion with seaeggs and starfishes is evidently neither accidental nor merely for the purpose of shelter. The suctorial proboscis, as well as the want of a den- ticulated tongue in S. Turtoni, strengthens the sup- position that its food consists of extremely soft or semi- fluid matter, and not of organisms which have any degree of solidity. Dentalium, which preys on hard-shelled Foraminifera, has a complicated lingual apparatus ; and even the little Rissoa, that feeds on seaweeds, often of the most delicate and filmy texture, possesses a pair of horny jaws, besides a tongue armed with a strong cen- tral tooth, flanked on each side by a formidable row of serrated lateral teeth. Stilifer has nothing like a jaw or tooth. For these reasons I do not consider Stilifer a true parasite, nor yet an epizoic organism, like Montacuta substriata, deriving its nutriment from the vicinity of the animal to which it attaches itself — but as holding an intermediate relation. Its scavenger-habits are not unlike those of the dung-beetle. I would recom- mend those who care to pursue this inquiry to consult Hupe's paper in the ' Revue et Magasin de Zoologie ' for March 1860, and Fischer's monograph on the genera Stilifer and Entoconcha in the ' Journal de Conchylio- logie ' for April 1864. They may also see in the ' Report 192 STILIFERID.E. of the British Association/ published in 1865, some further remarks of mine on the subject. In the ' Record of Zoological Literature \ for 1864 Mr. Greene says that the " opinion " which I have above expressed is " by no means proven." It is impossible to prove an opinion ; but the facts on which mine was based remain undisputed. The spawn of S. Turtoni is deposited on the upper surface of the Echinus on which it settles. Although the present distribution of Stilifer is very ex- tensive, no species appears to have been discovered in a fossil state. Various have been the positions which conchologists have from time to time assigned to this remarkable mollusk in their systems of classification. Turton, as we have seen, placed it in Phasianella ; Fleming in Ve- lutina, although he pointed out the incongruity of the allocation; Reeve at first between Turritella and Ceri- thium, but recently between his Canalifera and Turbi- nacea; Macgillivray among his Turbinina, next to La- cuna; Forbes and Hanley, as well as Woodward, in Pyramidellidcs ; H. & A. Adams as a distinct family between Eulimidce and C erithiop sides ; Clark in Pyra- midellidce, between Aclis and Scalaria ; and Gray also in the same family between his genus Hyala (Rissoa vitrea) and Entoconcha. I am inclined to agree with Messrs. Adams in making Stilifer the type of a separate family; but it is much more difficult to say to what other families it has the nearest affinity. PyramidellidcE, as represented in our seas by Odostomia, ought not to be far off ; and Ianthinidce have similar relations to it, in respect of the nuoleus or apex of the shell. Homalogyra has sessile eyes, placed on the neck, as in Stilifer, and it is also finely ciliated all over ; but in that genus the animal has no tentacles, and the shell is discoid and STILIFER. 193 operculate. The presence or absence of an operculum is, to a limited extent, a good generic character, although certain allied genera (e. g. Mangilia and Conns) com- prise species some of which have an operculum and others not. The stiliform spire in the present genus, although remarkable, is not peculiar to it, nor to Odo- stomia or Ianthina. Melampus bidlceo'ides has the apical whorls formed in the same mammillated fashion ; and in several genera of the Bullidce the shell exhibits the same feature. These, however, may be regarded as cases of analogv rather than of affinitv. The first formed whorls or nucleus of the spire, in many univalves, cease to be occupied by the animal after it has attained a certain growth, being too small for its requirements, — like a householder, who usually moves, once at least during his life, into a tenement larger than the one he at first inhabited. In the case of the Mollusca above referred to, the original and now useless tenement remains affixed to the new one ; but in Bulimus decollatus, some species of Clmisili i, and in Truncatella tnmcatula the topmost storv is knocked off and replaced bv another roof. Cce- cum glabrum and C. trachea even undergo a partial meta- morphosis, the shell of each having at first a regular spire, and when this is lost becoming a slightly curved cylinder. The genera Leptoconchus of Ruppell and Campirfotvs of Guettard (Magilus of De Montfort) also appear to be related to Stilifer in their quasi-parasitic habits. The first-named genus is destitute of an oper- culum, except in its younger state ; the second has an operculum at all ages. The conjecture of the late Pro- fessor D'Orbigny that Stilifer ought to merge in Eulima, because the latter may likewise be parasitic, has no foundation. It is true that species of Eulima have been found in the stomachs ofHolothurice; and the " trepang," VOL. IV. K 194 STILIFERID^. or dried e S beche de mer," of which the Japanese are so fond, frequently contains these shells. But this is not a case of parasitism : the Eulima feeds the Holotkuria y instead of feeding upon it. The name of this genus has been of late years, pro- bably from carelessness, incorrectly spelt with a y, viz. Stylifer. Although the Greek orthography is followed in our word style, the Latin word is stilus, and not sty- lus ; it is, of course, from the Latin that Stilifer is de- rived. Broderip was too good a scholar to have made such a mistake. It has been lately suggested that the name is compounded of the Greek words cttOXo? and (Gould) . The Rev. L. Guilding (Linn. Trans, vol. xvii.) divided this genus into Natica and Naticina, the former having a shelly, and the latter a horny operculum. Gray pro- posed to adopt the genus Neverita of Risso for the species with a horny operculum; but Risso retained Natica for these, and his description and figure of Ne- verita represent a different kind of shell (apparently Natica olla), which has the umbilicus closed by a solid pad. In all our species the operculum is horny. Reeves's list contains 137 recent species of Natica. There are many obsolete generic synonyms. A. Shell rather thin, with a produced spire ; umbilicus small. 1. Natica Islan'dica*", Gmelin. Kerita Islandica, Gmel. ed. S. N. p. 3675. Natica hclicoichs, F. & II. iii p. 339, pi. c. f. 6. Body pale yellowish-white, minutely and closely speckled with flake-white : snout broad and large, with rounded cor- ners : tentacles small ; they either project at the sides of the front foot-lobe, or are pressed back by it on the outer lip of the shell : eyes, none observable : fo'jf narrower at the sides, expanded and forming short ear-Shaped lobes in front, thicker and folded back behind into an ar^ular point. Shell conic oval, less solid than any other recent British species of Natica, semitrans^ are iit, not glossy when fresh and * Icelandic. NATICA. 215 covered with the epidermis ; base somewhat attenuated and angular : sculpture, apparently none ; but the lens discloses numerous slight spiral striae, irregularly disposed and often wavy ; by the aid of a microscope may also be seen much more numerous and still finer lines of growth, which, however, do not produce any decussation of the surface : colour milk-white under the epidermis, which is pale-yellow or lemon-colour in young specimens, brownish-yellow in the adult : spire turreted, abruptly and bluntly pointed : whorls 5-7, rounded but com- pressed ; the last occupies nearly five-sixths of the spire ; the first is very minute, and scarcely projects beyond the second : suture rather oblique, deeply and conspicuously channelled or grooved inwards, so as to leave a narrow ledge at the top of each whorl and to give the appearance of their partly over- lapping one another : mouth equal in area to one-third of the shell, and in length to two-thirds of the spire, expanding and somewhat angulated at the base : outer lip incurved above, and joining the inner lip, which is spread over the pillar and almost conceals a narrow and small umbilicus : operculum thin, golden- yellow, minutely, very finely, and closely striated in the line of growth ; whorls 4, defined by a raised edge or rim, the last disproportionately large. L. 1. B. 0-65. Habitat : Rare, in the coralline zone, from 7 to 79 f., Shetland (Barlee, M 'Andrew, and J. G. J.); Orkneys (Thomas) ; Wick (Peach) ; Aberdeenshire (Macgillivray, Gordon, and Dawson) ; Banff (Edwards) ; Firth of Forth (Knapp) ; Berwick Bay (Johnston) ; Northumberland coast (King); Sunderland (Howse); Scarborough (Lec- kenby); Cork (Humphreys). In most of these cases the specimens were caught by fishermen, or taken from the stomachs of haddocks. It occurs in most of our quaternary or post-glacial beds in Scotland, Ireland, and Yorkshire; Norwich and Red Crag (Lyell and S. Wood); Uddevalla (Lyell and others); Christiansund, 30-40 feet (Sars) ; Gardiner, in the State of Maine (Lyell). Recent in Scandinavia, Iceland, Faroe Isles, coasts of Russian Lapland and the White Sea, Spitz- bergen, Greenland, Massachusetts northwards to Canada, 216 NATICIDiE. Icy Cape, and Behring's Straits, at depths ranging from 3 to 60 f. It is more sluggish than any of the other Naticce which I have examined. A specimen dredged by Mr. Barlee and myself in Shetland is more than an inch and a half long and an inch broad. Mr. Edwards of Banff got another specimen nearly as large from the stomach of a cod. Olafsen and Povelsen accurately described this shell in the account of their journey through Iceland, 1772. The Latin part of this description was republished by Miiller and Gmelin ; and the latter gave a name to the species. It is the N. helicoides of Johnston, N. cana- liculata of Gould (not of Lamarck), N. exulans of Loven's MS. (according to Gould), and N. cornea of Moller. B. Shell more or less solid, with a short or compressed spire ; umbilicus of various sizes. 2. N. Grcenlan'dica^, Beck. N. grcenkmdica (Beck), Moller, Ind. Moll. Gr. p. 7. N.pusilla, F. & H. iii. p. 341, pi. c. f. 7. Body crcamcolour . tentacles very short : eyes not percep- tible, if any : foot smaller than in many other species. Shell globose, resembling that of typical species of Helix, moderately solid, almost semitransparent, lustreless : sculpture, consisting only of extremely fine and obscure spiral stria? and equally minute but more numerous lines of growth : colour white under the epidermis, which is creamcolour : spire short, slightly prominent : whorls 4-5, tumid ; the last occupies eight-ninths of the spire ; apex always eroded : suture nearly straight, very narrowly excavated inwards : mouth equal in area to one-third of the shell, and in length to five-eighths of the spire, expanding and rounded or slightly angulated at the base : outer Up somewhat incurved above, and having a bevelled * Inhabiting Greenland. NATICA. 21 w edge: inner lip broad, considerably thickened on the lower part, and forming a callous ridge just below the junction of the outer lip with the periphery ; it is reflected over the pillar and a great part of the umbilicus; this is narrow, and further contracted by a broad and obliquely twisted buttress, issuing outwards towards the base from the centre of the cavity on the side of the pillar : operculum thin, lemoncolour, closely and irregularly striated in the line of growth, and marked in every direction with microscopical short and curved scratch- like lines ; spire irregular, denned by a broad chalky-white suture, and terminating in a minute nucleus. L. 0*85. B. 0-85. Habitat : Not uncommon in muddy sand, at a con- siderable distance from the coasts of Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, in 40-60 f. (Bean and others) ; Shetland (Barlee). Fossil in the Scotch "-drift" for- mation (Smith and others) ; 20-25 f. on the Turbot- bank, co. Antrim (J. G. J.); Bridlington (Wood); Kel- sey Hill, near Hull (Prestwich) ; Norwich Crag (Wood- ward); Uddevalla (J. G. J.); glacial and post-glacial beds in Norway, the former at 0-460 and the latter at 30-40 feet (Sars) ; "post-pliocene ^ deposits, Canada (Dawson). Recent on the coasts of Scandinavia, Faroe Isles, Iceland, Greenland, White Sea, and Sea of Okhotsk, north-east and south-west America, from the shore to 150 f. It appears to be a delicate animal, as it soon dies when kept with other and more hardy mollusks. The fishermen at Staithes call it the "white snail." Mr. Howse tells me that it takes the bait freely, and that, when the lines are drawn, it gripes or drives the hook into its body and is thus caught. Very young speci- mens of this Natica have a semicircular pad on the out- side of the pillar, which projects over the umbilicus and covers part of it ; this grows into the buttress or ridge- like process mentioned in my description of the shell. VOL. IV. L 218 NATICID.E. It is the N. pusilla of Gould, but not of the original describe!*, Say, which latter species is oval and very much smaller than ours, having a calcareous operculum and the umbilicus completely closed by a pad. N. nana of Moller appears to differ from Say's shell merely in having a horny operculum. Our shell is the N. livida of Bean, N. borealis of Gray, N. Gouldii of Philippi, N. alba and N. lactea of Loven's MS. according to Philippi, and N. bulbosa of Reeve; probably also the N. Beverlii of Leach, being one of the " invertebrate ani- mals discovered by HisMajesty's Ship Isabella " [!] , and described in ' Sir John Ross's Voyage to Baffin's Bay/ It is difficult to decide, from the too short diagnosis given by Broderip and Sowerby, whether their N. pallida is the present species or N. Islandica. Morch placed N. Groenlandica in the genus Mamma of Klein, an olla podrida of Nerita, Natica, Dolium, Buccinum, Turbo, and Purpura. We cannot say of such systematists, " Et quo antiquius, eo melius." 3. N. sor'dida*, Philippi. N. sordida, Phil. Moll. Sic. ii. p. 139, t. xsir. f. 15 ; F. & H". iii. p. 334, pi. c. f. 5, 8, and (animal) pi. PP. f. 3. Body fleshcolour or pale tawny : snout strong and very large, whitish except at the extremity, which is reddish -brown : ten- tacles having fine and tapering points : eyes, none perceptible : foot enormous, very slimy, truncated or cloven in front, and rounded behind. Shell globose, inclining to oval, thick and solid, opaque, somewhat glossy : sculpture, minute, irregular, fiexuous, and slight spiral lines, which are stronger or more conspicuous below the suture of the body- whorl and on the base : colour buff, passing into chestnut : epidermis thin, of a lighter shade than the main colour of the shell : spire short, slightly pro- minent ; apex abraded or decorticated : ivhorls 5-6, tumid * Dirt-coloured. NATICA. 219 and rapidly enlarging ; the last occupies ten-elevenths of the spire ; the upper part of each (especially of the body-whorl) is compressed or sometimes flattened, so as to present a bluntly angular edge in front : suture rather straight, very narrowly excavated inwards : mouth equal in area to nearly one-third of the shell, and in length to two-thirds of the spire, expand- ing and decidedly angulated at the base : outer lip gently in- curved above, and having a blunt edge : inner lip broad and remarkably thick, forming above a callosity or small protu- berance, which is separated from the outer lip at its origin by a short and shallow groove ; it is reflected over the pillar and upper part of the umbilicus, and has a stain of pale chocolate ; the middle portion is spread further backwards and forms an angular pad : umbilicus rather large and deep, for the most part open ; a broad ridge winds spirally inwards down the centre and towards the base of the shell ; it exhibits also two or three parallel indistinct grooves and some striae : operculum horncolour, narrowly edged with pearl-white, microscopically and closely striated in the line of growth ; last whorl (as usual) excessively large, defined by a white overlapping suture ; termination or nucleus of the spire concave. L. 1*3. B. 1-2. Habitat : Muddy sand in 7-90 f., Shetland (M 'An- drew, Barlee, and J. G. J.); west of Scotland (Forbes and others); Moray Firth (Gordon); Firth of Forth (Knapp); Dunbar (Laskey); Exmouth, dredged with N. catena (Clark) ; St. George's Channel, between Scilly and the Smalls (M 'Andrew); Lough Strangford (Dickie); Dublin Bay (Kinahan) ; Youglial (Miss E. Ball, fide Thompson) ; Cork (Humphreys) ; between Cape Clear and Baltimore (M'Andrew) ; Arran Isle, co. Galway (Barlee). Fossil in the south of Italy and in Sicily (Philippi); Coralline Crag (Wood, as N. cirriformis of Sowerby and probably N. proximo) . Its foreign range in a living state appears to be entirely southern, viz. south-west of France (Fischer); Gibraltar, 12 f., and Malaga, 30 f. (NL ( Andrew); Corsica (Susini); Naples and Palermo (Scacchi and Philippi) ; Algiers, caught by a fishing-line in deep water (Weinkauff) . l2 290 NATICID.E. In Shetland also it occasionally takes or sucks the fish-baits. Its horny jaws are large; and when ex- panded they form a triangular plate. The size of my largest specimen is 1ft x f inch. Tins species difter froni N. Gmnlandka in size, solidity, colour, and the umbilicus. , A/r It is perhaps the Nerita levida of Laskey (Mem. Wem. Soc. i. p. 409), who says, « It bears some resem- blance to N. glaucina \_N. catena], but has a more pro- duced apex, and is divested of the markings of that shell " It appears to he the N. glawmal of Scaccln. Swainson's N. sordida is N. plumbea of Lamarck, an exotic species, to which Philippi erroneously referred the European shell. 4 N. cate'na* Da Costa. as 2V. canrena). Body yellowish or drab, with a purplish tinge on the upper to arilfSy Uneated with purplish-brown : snout fleshy : Z, ft or orifice of the proboscis globular small, lying under- Zh the snout: tmtailes rather long, slender, and pointed, leed n fle middle above the snout, and nearly coneealedby tho front lobe of the mantle : [eyes " so excessively mmute as the li rail loue u , l , (Tolummous and when S^CfiSX JKSS of k shell, divided across so 2 to form 1 w -unequal portions, the posterior of whists he kr°ei bluntly pointed behind; front lobe notched or in- dented * the mi*ffii male organ situate under the right ten- tacle: ovary pale yellow : ( ,W dull olive. _ Shell globose, and somewhat resembling an AmpyUapa >n Bhaw moderately thick and solid, opaque, glossy: sculpture microscopical and very close-set flexuons spiral itn* : colour We3wish-white or buff, ornamented with a row of red- & brown or light chocolate short, oblique or zigzag, longi- ^lal streaks ft the top of each whorl, and sometimes (tre- * From its chain-like rows of spots. NATICA. 221 quently in immature specimens) with also one or two similar rows round the periphery of the last whorl: epidermis very thm, buffcolour, to be seen only within the umbilicus, having been rubbed off in other parts by the continual friction of the sand which this species inhabits : spire short, slightly promi- nent ; apex entire, flattened : whorls 7, tumid and rapidly en- larging; the last occupies eleven-fourteenths of the spire- suture nearly straight, rather deep, and well defined: mouth of the same relative dimensions as in the last species, slightly expanding and angulated at the base: outer ty/rather sharply incurved above, and having a blunt edge: inner lip broad, not very thick on the upper part of the pillar, forming a slight ridge along that corner of the mouth, and a white solid pad or callus in the middle, which projects over that side of the umbilicus ; the inner layer is more or less tinged with reddish- brown, and sometimes also the inside rim of the upper part of the body-whorl : umbilicus rather large and deep, for the most part open, marked with several slight obliquelv spiral grooves : operculum horncolour, microscopically and closely striated in the line of growth, giving a fibrous appearance ; in other re- spects like that of JV. sordida. L. 1-4. B. 1-4. Yar. conico-ovalis. Spire somewhat elongated or drawn out. Habitat : Large sandy bays from Jersey (Dodd) to Unst (J. G. J.), at low-water mark of spring tides and down to about 10 f.; common. Shells inhabited by hermit crabs (which had probably carried them into deeper water) were dredged by Mr. Hyndman off the Mull of Cantire in 40 t, and by Professor Dickie in Lough Strangforcl, from 15 /to 25 t; this shows the advisability of recording in dredging-lists whether the species so procured were living or dead. A specimen of the variety was taken by me on Rossilly sands near Swansea; and M. Martin obtained the same variety on the coast of Provence. This species is said to occur in almost every upper tertiary fossiliferous bed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, including the deposit near Mac- clesfield, 500-600 feet (Darbishire) , that on the Sussex 222 NATICID/E. coast (Godwin- Austen) , Clyde beds (Smith), Mamma- lian and Red Crag (Wood) . The account of its geolo- gical distribution is not satisfactory. N. catena does not appear to inhabit any part of the arctic seas, like other Mollusca whose remains are found in formations for that reason assigned to the glacial period. More- over the coloured markings of this species are not exhi- bited in the Crag shells so named by Mr. S. Wood, although they are retained in his N. millepunctata. Its foreign range extends from Bohuslan (Loven) to Corsica (Requien) . It was first described and figured by Lister, and is the " English chain-headed sea Button-shell " of Petiver. Specimens in Macgillivray's collection from Aberdeen measure full two inches in length and breadth. I dredged at Guernsey a small one the spire of which is reversed or sinistrorsal. The fry are globular, orange- colour, and umbilicate ; they assume the purplish-brown markings after they are excluded from the leathery band noticed in my account of the genus, and which in the present case when dry looks not unlike a piece of thin Scotch oaten bread. Bouchard-Chantereaux informs us that the sexual coition lasts many hours ; and that the spawn-envelope consists of a great number of rounded cells, each containing from 12 to 15 fry, which emerge in succession at an interval of two or three days after at least two months of foetal life. The eggs are laid usually in March and April, and the young are produced in May and June. This mollusk was justly admired by Mr. Clark, who says, " When just taken, in vigour, and immersed in sea-water, it is scarcely possible to con- template a more beautiful and interesting object, with its shell rising as a globular pyramid from its immense circular disk, elegantly marked with fine dark lines on XATICA. 223 a clear-drab ground.'* It is not always so sluggish as it seems. According to Mr. Bretherton (' Zoologist s for 1858, p. 6232) it crawls quickly in pursuit of its prey (chiefly Mactrce and Tellince), which it seizes by means of its large and flexible foot, and, after drilling their shells with its tongue, devours them while buried in the sand. This will account for most of the small round holes that are so often seen in bivalve shells thrown up on the beach. I am not disposed to concur in the opinion commonly entertained by naturalists that the front of the tongue is worn away by use. That portion is firmly and intimately connected with the jaws; and it would be difficult to explain how such a union could be dissolved or a new attachment formed from time to time. The present species differs from the last in its larger size and plumper form, the whorls not being compressed at the top, its deeper and wider suture, the umbilicus being grooved instead of ridged, and particularly in the coloured streaks and the different hue of the pad formed by the inner lip. It is the Nerita glaucina of Pennant, Pulteney, and Donovan, but not of Linne, which is now considered a tropical species — although under that name Linne evi- dentlv included our shell with several others. Dale called it Cochlea parva, Forbes Natica Nicolii. Potiez and Michaud referred it to the N. ampullaria of La- marck, Loven to his N. collaria, Deshayes to his N. castanea, and Forbes and Hanley to his N. monilifera. Without discussing the question which, if any, of these Lamarckian species the one now under consideration may have been, I prefer following Alder and Searles Wood in adopting the older name given by Da Costa. 224 NATICID-^. 5. N. Alde'ri"*, Forbes. X. Alderi, Forb. Mai. Mon. p. 31, pi. ii. f. 6, 7. N. nitida, F. & H. iii. p. 330, pi. c. f. 2-4, and (animal) pi. PP. f. 5, as N. Alderi. Body creamcolour, spotted or streaked with, reddish- or purplish-brown : snout broad, thick, and flexible, margined by a line of pnrplish-brown : tentacles sharp-pointed, tipped or edged with the same colour: {eyes, "distinctly visible, im- mersed in the centre of the anterior bases of the tentacula " (Clark) :] foot expansile, minutely veined. Shell conic-globose, inclining to oval, very thick and solid, opaque, glossy : sculpture numerous and minute lines of growth, which are not discernible without a magnifying-power ; oc- casionally a few slight spiral stria3 may also be observed : colour buff, adorned with spiral rows of reddish-brown or light chocolate spots and streaks ; of these there are 5 on the body- whorl, and 1 on each of the next two or three whorls ; all the rows except the middle one on the body- whorl (which is com- posed of short zigzag longitudinal streaks) are usually formed of blunt arrow-headed spots, the uppermost row being fre- quently more dark-coloured and conspicuous than the rest; the umbilicus and inner lip are also stained with reddish-brown or light chocolate : epidermis yellowish-brown and somewhat fibrous, preserved within the umbilicus only : spire short, but prominent, ending in a blunt point : ivliorh G, convex, com- pressed, and shelving upwards towards the suture ; the last occupies eleven-twelfths of the spire : suture oblique and slight : mouth equal in length to nine-twelfths of the spire, scarcely expanding, and bluntly angulated at the base : outer lip sloping from the periphery, and having a blunt edge : inner lip broad, forming a very thick ridge or callosity at the upper angle of the mouth, and a large thick pad in the middle, which is obtusely triangular and proj ects over the upper side of the umbilicus; this part is narrow and oblique, two-thirds open, separated on the lower side by a slight ridge, between which and the pad are some obscure and smaller ridges : operculum light-horncolour, striated as in the last species, and marked with a few indistinct revolving lines ; spire defined by an overlapping and raised edge. L. 0-7. B. 0*65. Var. 1. lactea. Shell milk-white. * Dedicated to Mr. Joshua Alder of Newcastle-on-Tyne, a distinguished British zoologist. O O K NATICA. &iO Var. 2. mbovalis. Smaller, and of a somewhat oval shape, with a longer spire ; fawneolour or whitish. Yar. 3. ventrkosa. More globose, and short-spired. Habitat : Everywhere, in sand, from the extreme verge of low- water mark to the greatest depth within the line of soundings . Var. 1. Widely distributed, but not common. Var. 2. Shetland and west of Scotland, in deep water (J. G. J.); Silverpits on the north-eastern coast of England (Rich). Var. 3. Hebrides (J. G. J.). Fossil in many of our quaternary deposits (Smith and others) ; glacial and post-glacial beds in Norway, 0-440 feet (Sars). Its range, as a recent species, comprises the North Sea from the Loffoden Isles southwards, the western coasts of the North Atlantic, the Adriatic, and both sides of the Mediterranean ; depths recorded from various places 5-80 f. It glides swiftly along by means of its broad foot. Mr. Dennis writes me word that it is a very ravenous mollusk, and that, when placed in a basin of sea-water with Scrobicularia alba or other small bivalves, it will, as soon as night falls, pierce the shells and commence devouring its prey. The spawn-case is not so tough and leathery as that of N. catena ; one now before me mea- sures an inch and a quarter in diameter, the circular hole at the top being half an inch. The pad in very young shells covers about one-half of the umbilicus, although this latter part is nearly closed in some speci- mens from Shetland. The ground-colour varies from pure white to dark orange; occasionally the spots are confluent, or they are replaced by broad bands, or else by a white zone at the top of each whorl ; now and then the upper whorls only are encircled by a single row of spots ; and the streak outside the umbilicus is not unfre- quently wanting. Specimens procured by Mr. Jordan l 5 226 naticidjE. at Falmouth not only exhibit an irregular style of co- louring, but the last whorl has a tendency to diverge from the one above it in almost a scalariform fashion. The present species differs from N. catena in its smaller size and comparatively greater solidity, more produced and pointed spire, slighter suture, diversified arrange- ment of the coloured markings, and contracted umbilicus. This species was described in the ' Fauna Suecica/ and in the second edition of that work bears the name of Nerita glaucina. It seems to have been mistaken by all the old writers on British conchology for the young of Natica catena. The Nerita nitida of Donovan is a common tropical shell. Indeed he admitted that the authority on which he at first hesitated to insert that species in his work was " vague ; " and his statement that "the same kind was discovered, in the course of last summer, upon the coast of Scotland near Caithness/' is not so satisfactory to me, as evidence that the exotic shell which he figured is British, as it appears to have been to him. In Loudon's Magazine for April 1836, Forbes adopted the name nitida for our shell, believing it to be Donovan's species ; but two years afterwards, in his ' Malacologia Monensis/ he substituted for it Alderi. I am rejoiced at being thus able to cut the Gordian Knot by perpetuating a name endeared to all lovers of British marine zoology. Philippi at first called the pre- sent species intermedia ; this he subsequently cancelled in favour of marochiensis , under an erroneous impression that the European species was Nerita marochiensis of Gmelin (founded on the Nerita Maroccance of Chemnitz) , said to inhabit Morocco, the West Indies, and Guiana. Philippics mistake originated with Menke. Nor is our species N. castanea of Lamarck, as Bouchard-Chante- reaux supposed, nor N.pulcheUa of Hisso, to which Loven XATICA. 227 has assigned it. According to the last-named author it is the N. similis of Koch. Leach named it N. La- mar ckiana. Nerita pellucida and N. alba of Adams (Linn. Trans, iii. p. 67) were possibly the fry of this species. Natica immaculata of Totten is allied to the variety lactea, but has a much more open umbilicus. 6. N. Montacu'ti*, [Montagui] Forbes. -V. Montagui, Forb. Mai. Mon. p. 32, pi. ii. f. 3, 4; F. & H. iii. p. oM pi. ci. f. 3, 4, and (animal) pi. PP. f. 4. Body pale brownish-yellow, crearncolour, or whitish with a brownish or Yellowish-brown tint above, whitish underneath : snout very broad, light-brown, and rounded in front: tentacles moderately long and pointed, white; they are sometimes carried nearly erect, or project sideways : eyes, none observable : foot capable of great dilatation, and, when fully extended, occupying twice the area of the shell ; anterior portion divided above into two ear-shaped or triangular lobes, and edged with reddish- or purplish-brown ; middle portion squarish in front, with a slight indentation in the middle and rather sharp corners ; posterior portion oval, with a rounded tail. Shell globular, thick and solid, opaque, having very little gloss ; sculpture, none except minute irregular lines of growth : colour fawn of various shades passing into buff or reddish- brown ; there is often a whitish band round the top of each whorl : epidermis yellowish-brown, usually preserved within the umbilicus only : spire short, with a blunt point : whorls 5-6, tumid, enlarging more gradually than in JV. Alderi ; the last whorl occupies nine-tenths of the spire : suture nearly straight, wide and narrowly channelled : mouth equal in length to nearly four-fifths of the spire, not much expanded, and bluntly angulated at the base ; throat reddish-brown : outer lip gently incurved on the periphery, having a rather thick edge: inner lip white, irregularly spread over the pillar, forming a small callosity or tooth-like process at the upper angle of the mouth, besides a slight pad in the middle, being the termination of the umbilical ridge, the lower part is very thick: umbilicus rather large and roundish, not much contracted by the inner lip ; it has on that side a strong and wide ridge, * Earned in memory of the author of ' Testacea Britannica.' 228 naticidyE. winding into the interior of the spire, and separated from the base of the shell by a deep furrow, which notches the pillar : operculum horncolour, somewhat more solid than in other British species, microscopically and very closely striated in the line of growth ; spire concave, defined by an overlapping and raised edge. L. 0-5. B. 0-475. Var. 1. albula. Whitish. Var. 2. conica. Spire more produced. Habitat : Not uncommon on a sandy or gravelly bottom mixed with mud, and among nullipore, in 15- 90 f., throughout the Scotch, Irish, and north of England coasts ; Isle of Man and Devon (Forbes) ; Plymouth (Jordan) ; Cornwall (Peach, M' Andrew, and Hockin) ; 110-140 f. off the Mull of Galloway (Beechey, fide Thompson) ; in the stomachs of gurnards at Cork (Humphreys) . Both the varieties are Zetlandic. Clyde beds (J. Smith) ; Aberdeenshire (Jamieson) ; post-gla- cial deposits in Norway, 0-80 feet (Sars). Philippics shell, of which he found a single specimen at Palermo, and doubtfully referred by him to the Nerita helicina of Brocchi, although it is not that species, may be ours, and fossil also. Its foreign range is entirely northern, from Iceland (Steenstrup and Torell) and Finmark (Sars) to the south of Sweden (Loven and others); depths 3-70 f. N. Montacuti sometimes swims in an inverted posi- tion ; and it emits a thick slime from its foot. The jaws are small and thin ; tongue thickly but not sharply spinous, with an unarmed and curled point at the inner extremity. This is the smallest of our native Naticce. It is, besides, distinguishable from N. Alderi by its colour, more globular shape, shorter spire, tumid whorls (the last of which is not so disproportionately large, viewed with the mouth downwards), wider and chan- nelled suture, and by the umbilicus being rounder and NATICA. 229 more open, and furnished with a broad ridge, which is defined on the lower side by a deep groove. It is the Nerita rufa of Montagu ; but Born's species of that name (which belongs to the present genus) is a large tropical shell. Macgillivray described our species as Natica rutila, and the young as N. squalida. I have ventured, for the sake of uniformity, to slightly alter the spelling of the specific name given by Forbes. Mon- tagu's ancestor in Domesday Book was Drogo de Monte acuto, afterwards Montacute and Montagu ; the La- tinized form of the name is therefore Montacutus, and not Montaguus. Thus we have the well-known genus Montacuta. One of the most common shells in our newer tertiary and quaternary formations is the Nerita affinis of Gmelin, alias Natica clausa of Broderip and Sowerby. I will mention only a few of the localities, to show the extent of oscillation to which the area of the British Isles and of the surrounding sea has been subjected within a comparatively recent period : — Mammalian and Red Crag, not much above the present level of the sea (S.Wood); Moel Tryfaen, 1330-1360 feet (Darbishire); dredged in 25 f. = 150 feet, off Larne, co. Antrim, and from a raised sea-beach near high-water mark, at Fort William (J. G. J.) ; Clyde district, at a considerable height (Watson and others) ; Shetland sea-bed, 80 f. = 480 feet (Barlee). It now inhabits the circumpolar and northern ocean in both hemispheres, its southern limit on this side of the Atlantic being Drobak in Christiania- fiord (Sars), with a bathymetrical range from the shore to 150 f. It occurs in a fossil state throughout Scan- dinavia and Canada; and Dr. Van Geuns discovered it in a pliocene bed near Palermo. I need not particu- larize the synonyms of this species. 230 solariidjE. Another relic of the glacial epoch is N. Smithii of Brown, a specimen of which was found by the late Duchess of Argyll at Ardincaple near Helensburgh. This is the N. flava of Gould and N. aperta of Loven, as well as probably N. fragilis of Leach and N. glacialis of Danielssen — an arctic species. Finmark, in 40-60 f. } is its most southern known habitat. The following species of Natica and allied genera have been wrongly introduced into the British fauna : — 1. Nerita nitida, DojiQV2m.= Naticina lactea, Guilding; West Indies. 2. Nerita intricata, Don. = Natica Valenciennesii, Payr. ; Mediterranean. 3. Nerita tuberosissima, Mont. ; West Indies. 4. Nerita virginea, Linn. ; West Indies. This is perhaps also the Nerita glabrissima (horresco referens !) of Brown = Nerita sulcata of Turton, not of Born = Natica Broivniana of Leach. Family XXI. SOLARHD^E, Chenu. Genus ADEOB/BIS*, Searles Wood. PI. III. f. 5. Animal unknown. Shell small, trochiform with a flattened base, porcellanous, few-whoiied, deeply umbilicate: spire depressed: mouth ob- liquely rhombic, angulated above and slightly notched or ■emarginate below : operculum horny, having an excentric or lateral spire. The position of this family and genus is unsatisfactory; we want more information as to both. The animal of the typical genus. Solarium, is thus described by Reeve * Approaching a circle. ADEORBIS. 231 in his ( Elements of Conchology : ' — " disk small, oval, elevated on a short pedicle, and furnished at its hinder extremity with a small horny operculum ; head flattened, and prolonged into two tentacles, at the base of each of which is a short pedicle, supporting the eyes j the mantle is reflected into a collar around the aperture." And he remarks that it differs from Turbo and Trochus in the head not being snout-shaped, " but prolonged, some- what after the manner of Buccinum and Purpura, into two elongated tentacles." The family is called Archi- tectonicidce by Messrs. Adams, and Architect omida by Dr. Gray ; the former place it near Eulimidce. Searles Wood was anticipated in giving a name to the present genus. In an " Enumeration of Marine Shells " found on the South Devon coast, published in 1829 (a copy of which was presented to me by Dr. Turton "from the author"), the genus Tornus, signifying a turner's wheel or lathe, was characterized as follows : — " Shell orbicular, depressed, aperture oval or roundish ; pillar none. Operculum horny. Includes Helia? subcarinata" This publication was anonymous, a circumstance which may deprive the author of the right of precedence according to the laws of scientific nomenclature. I therefore retain Adeorbis, although the other name is preferable. Perhaps this genus should merge in Sola- rium. Many species assigned to it by Mr. S. Wood and others must be removed from it, and placed in different genera. Adeorbis subcarina'tus*, Montagu. Helix subcarinata, Mont. Test. Br. p. 438, t. 7. f. 9. A. subcarinata, F. & H. ii. p. 541, pi. lxviii. f. 6-8. Shell nearly circular, solid, semitransparent when fresh, * Somewhat keeled. 232 SOLARIID^E. and having very little gloss : sculpture, strong and prominent, but narrow, spiral ridges, of which there are 6 on the body- whorl, 2 on the next, and none on the upper two whorls, which are quite smooth and polished ; the ridges on the body- whorl are thus disposed, — 1 close to the sutural line, 2 below it, 1 on the periphery, and 2 encircling the base ; the inter- stices of all the ridges are crossed by numerous longitudinal striae, which are sometimes curved or nexuous ; there are also still more numerous microscopical lines that traverse the whole surface obliquely ; the effect of all these markings is an exquisitely beautiful ornamentation : colour white, with some- times a yellowish- or reddish-brown stain, apparently the re- mains of an epidermis : spire extremely short : whorls 3|-4, compressed, rapidly enlarging ; the upper part of the body- whorl slopes towards the peripheral ridge, which forms a sort of keel ; this whorl, viewed with the mouth downwards, oc- cupies more than two-thirds of the spire : suture well defined, but not deep, in consequence of the upper part of each whorl shelving towards the next: mouth large, indented by the ridges: outer lip projecting far beyond the other lip, rounded and sharp-edged ; upper angle or corner acute : inner lip re- flected on the upper part of the base (where it joins the outer lip) and slightly over the umbilicus, thickened and angulated on the under side, below which it makes a straight course outwards, where it ends in a small notch ; this is very con- spicuous when the shell is held on one side, with the spire from the observer : umbilicus rather large, obliquely sloping- inwards, defined by the lower basal ridge, and striated length- wise, more strongly as the shell advances in age : operculum thin, obliquely striated in the line of growth ; spire extremely small, comprising several minute and close-set turns, and not unlike that of the operculum of a Natica ; the outer whorl is disproportionately large. L. 0-04. B. 0-1. Habitat : Laminarian and coralline zones, Sandwich (Walker and J. G. J.) ; Dover (Lyons, fide Montagu) ; Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, and Bristol Channel (Mon- tagu and others) ; Guernsey and Barmouth (J. G. J.) ; Irish coasts (Turton and others) ; Lamlash Bay, Bute (Norman) ; Aberdeenshire (Dawson). Bed and Coral- line Crag (S. Wood) ; Belgian tertiaries (Nyst, as A. supranitzda) ; Dax (Basterot) ; Martillac (Grateloup) ; VELUTlNIDiE. 233 Carubbare, near Rhegio (Philippi) . It inhabits all the coasts of France (D'Orbigny pere and others); Vigo Bay, 4 f. (M f Andrew) ; Corsica (Dummy, fide Requien) ; Algiers (Weinkauff) ; Mogador, 3 f. (M' Andrew) ; Sicily (Philippi); Adriatic (v. Schrockinger); iEgean (Forbes). Although this pretty little shell is by no means rare — indeed it is very common at Guernsey — the animal has not yet been discovered. Through the kindness of Mr. M f Andrew, who dredged a living specimen at Mo- gadon I am fortunately able to describe the operculum. For an account of the false operculum, which has misled systematists as to the position of this genus, I would refer to page lv of the Introduction to the first volume of the present work. It is the Trochus rugosus of Brown, Delphinula triyo- nostoma of Basterot, and D. minuta of D'Orbigny pere. Family XXII. VELUTI'NIDjE, Gray. Body semioval : mantle notched in front, or folded so as to form a short branchial canal: snout or mentmn prominent: proboscis retractile, issuing from a vertical slit in the middle of the tentacular veil : tentacles widely apart, and separated by a veil-like membrane : eyes on bulbs or tubercles at the outer bases of the tentacles : foot oblong, double-edged in front : gills double, formed of unequal-sized plumes (Cuvier, Bou- chard-Chantereaux, and others ; " single," Clark): odontopliore long, flat, and coiled ; rhachis 1 -toothed ; pleura? consisting of 3 claw- shaped and similar unc.ini, or of a single very large one. Sexes distinct. Shell ear-shaped : spire lateral, small, and very short : mouth occupying nearly the entire base of the shell, and ex- posing the interior of the spire. The use of the pallial notch or fold is to conduct water to the gills. 234 VELUTINID.E. Genus I. LAMEL'LARIA*, Montagu. PL III. f. 6. Body depressed : mantle shield-like, completely enveloping and concealing the shell : snout small. Shell internal, white, and very thin : epidermis filmy. This resembles a Doris (one of the sea-slugs) in ap- pearance; and no one who is unacquainted with the varied structure of the Mollusca would suspect that the soft body of the Lamellaria had an internal spiral shell to protect its vital organs. It usually inhabits the lowest margin of the littoral zone, but is sometimes found in very deep water, "Lying with simple shells." The anatomy of the genus has been most carefully worked out by Dr. Bergh of Copenhagen. Lamellaria, as a genus, was instituted by Montagu (Trans. Linn. Soc. xi. pt. 2. p. 184), and divided into two sections, the former being represented by Pleuro- branchus membranaceus, and the latter by L. perspicua. The genus Pleurobranchus having been afterwards esta- blished by Cuvier, Menke in his * Synopsis ' restricted the present genus to the species comprised in Montagu's second section. It forms part of the genus Sigaretus of Cuvier, and is the Coriocella of De Blainville. Leach called it Marsenia, H. & A. Adams Cryptocella ; Gray made out of it three genera, viz. Ermea for L. perspicua, Lamellaria (which he placed in another family with Cy- prcea) for L. tentaculata — these, by the bye, being dif- ferent sexes of the same species, — and Marsenina for L. prodita. Both he and Troschel consider that Lamel- laria (or Marsenia) and Marsenina belong to different families, their opinion being based on the differences of * From the plate-iike or scaly shape of the mantle. LAMELLARIA. 235 the lingual apparatus. According to Macdonald the genera Brownia of D'Orbigny, Echinospira of Krohn, and Calcarella of Souleyet, as well as his own genus Jasonilla, are the young of exotic species of Lamellar ia. Lamarck's genus Sigaretus has an external and opercu- lated shell, and belongs to the Naticidce ; it was founded on the Sigaret of Adanson, being the Helix haliotoidea of Linne. A great deal has been written on the histo- rical part of this subject, with more or less correctness. I do not claim any merit for endeavouring to elucidate it ; nor, while making the attempt, do I feel that I incur the satirical reproach of Persius ; — Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter ; which Clifford renders, " Is science only useful as 'tis shown, And is thy knowledge nothing if not known ? " Lamellaria perspi/cua*, Linne. Helix perspicua, Linn. S. "N. p. 1250. L. perspicua, F. & H. iii. p. 355, pi. xcix. f. 8, 9, and (as L. tentaculata) f. 10 ; (animal) pi. PP. f. 1 and (as the last-named species) f. 2. Body varying greatly in colour, which is sometimes lemon with oval clear specks or else tessellated with milk-white, light- yellowish mottled with reddish spots and a few white flakes, orange or whitish with orange blotches interspersed with flake- white spots, or in other cases reddish-brown or umber speckled with a few irregular yellow dots, which are darker in the centre: mantle thickly studded with large and coarse roundish-oval warty tubercles or pustules of nearly the same size, each sur- rounded by a border of flake-white and having a small dark speck in the middle ; underneath are two lobes which fold nearly halfway over the foot: pallial sinus narrow, deep, and short : snout semicircular and thick, cloven at the point, and projecting beyond the foot : tentacles awl-shaped, rather long, slender, and finely pointed, slightly scalloped at the edges, diverging at an angle of about 30°; they are never carried * Transparent. 236 VELUTINID.E. erect, but pressed downwards by the mantle : eyes black, placed on extremely short offsets ; they are seldom visible from the outside, in consequence of their being covered by the edge of the mantle, but are exposed when the animal floats or swims : foot large and long, squarish in front with a short triangular lobe at each corner, bluntly pointed behind. Shell resembling in shape a very small Haliotis without holes (although it is more raised or convex), of a somewhat membranous consistency, transparent when fresh, and of a more or less iridescent lustre: sculpture, minute, irregular, but distinct lines of growth, which are especially conspicuous just below the suture, and more numerous microscopical spiral atriae, that sometimes become confluent and form stronger lines : colour clear white, with occasionally either a darker or a paler zone on the upper part of the body- whorl : spire oblique, very small, placed near the end of the shell : whorls 2%-d, tumid, the last occupying eleven-twelfths of the spire (viewed with the mouth downwards) ; the first whorl is apparently semidetached from the next, and twisted : suture wide and deep : mouth expanding outwards, exceeding in length five- sixths, and in breadth seven-tenths of the shell ; its base is entire : outer lip sloping from the periphery, with a curved outline, but somewhat contracted ; edge thin : inner lip nearly semicircular, forming on the pillar a thin glaze, slightly stri- ated lengthwise, and continuous with the upper edge of the outer lip. L. 0-65. B. 0*45. Male. Body white, with a few flake-white spots on the head, yellowish with black spots, or plain dirty white : verge falci- form. Shell much smaller and flatter, with the spire placed somewhat less obliquely, and having a proportionally larger mouth. Yar. lata. Shell smaller, broader, more compressed, but not flattened as in the last form, nor contracted in front. Habitat : Adhering to the under surface of loose stones, and in rock-pools, at low-water mark of spring tides, in the laminarian zone, as well as in the coralline and deep-sea zones down to 87 f. ; generally diffused throughout our seas. Both sexes are found together. I dredged the variety in deep water off Unst ; it may be the Bulla latens (Strom) of Midler's c Proclromus/ LAMELLARIA. 237 and Sigaretus Stromii of Sars. Fossil in the Coralline Crag at Sutton (S. Wood); Palermo (Philippi). Abroad this species ranges from Norway (Loven and others) to Madeira and the Azores (M f Andrew), and throughout the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and iEgcan (Linne, v. Schrockinger, Forbes, and others), the coasts of the United States (Gould and Stimpson), and Canada (D'Urban) ; shore to 69 f. The mantle, tentacles, and foot assume different posi- tions when the animal is quiescent and in active motion. It swims or floats with apparent ease. The gill-plume (whether single or double I could not make out) is of a yellowish-brown colour. Mr. Daniel found constantly in the stomach portions of branched corallines, probably indicating that the Lamellaria feeds on Polyzoa. Ac- cording to Mr. Peach the female eats a round hole in a jelly-like compound Ascidian (Leptoclinum punctatum) , for the purpose of making her nest and depositing in it her eggs. This nest is pot- shaped, and covered by a circular lid ; it is at first bright yellow, which after some time fades and changes, becoming at last dirty white. As the embryo increases in size the nest rises up beyond the surface of the Ascidian, having been previously covered on all sides. The spawn is deposited from February to May ; it arrives at maturity in four or five weeks. The embryo, when enclosed and swimming in the glairy matrix, is of a somewhat triangular shape ; the front portion is trilobed, each lobe being furnished with delicate vibratile cilia which are in constant motion; the central portion is granular, and the hinder bluntly pointed. On the pot-lid bursting open, and the fry emerging, the latter is found to have a pellucid nautili- form shell, retaining in other respects the appearance of its foetal state, and destitute of tentacles, eyes, or foot. 238 VELUTINID^E. Mr. Peach's excellent observations were continued re- gularly for ten years. Every season the Lamellaria, as if impelled by the same instinct which takes the salmon to the river, and the herring to shallower water, migrated inshore and sought its proper spawning-ground. Mr. Hennedy had previously to Mr. Peach, (' Zoologist ' for 1853, p. 4185) noticed this instinctive habit in Lamel- laria. The only mistake Mr. Peach appears to have made — a very pardonable one — was in supposing that his specimens belonged to the species called tentaculata by Forbes and Hanley. They are undoubtedly the typical form, which I have ascertained to be the female. That the other form is the male is manifest from the descriptions of M. Bouchard and Dr. Johnston. The epidermis of the shell becomes blistery if soaked in water, like that of some exotic snails. The types of both Montagu's species are in the British Museum, and represent the two sexual forms. The male is the Marsenia complanata of Leach, the female his M. producta. The latter is the Bulla haliotoidea of Mon- tagu, and has half a dozen other less known-synonyms. Genus II. VELUTI'NA* Fleming. PI. III. f. 7. Body compressed : mantle thick or puffy : snout large and gibbous. Shell external, yellowish-brown, not very thin : epidermis thick, velvety. Indicated by Fabricius in 1780. It was founded on the Bulla velutina of O. F. Muller by Dr. Fleming, in his ' Philosophy of Zoology/ 1822; and M. de Blain- ville, apparently without any knowledge of Fleming's prior publication, proposed the same generic name for * Ye ety ; name (not classical) derived from the epidermis. VELUTINA. 239 that species, in his ' Manuel de Malacologie et de Con- ch vliolo^ie/ 1825. Brown called it Galericulnm. There are but few species known of this genus or of Lamellaria. 1. Velutina plica'tilis*, M tiller. Bulla ficatilis, Miill. Prod. Zool. Dan. p. 242. V. flexilis, F. & H. iii. p. 350, pi. xcix. f. 6, 7, and (animal) pi. 00. f. 6. Body bright orange, sometimes speckled with yellow ; back and tentacles of a paler hue : mantle tumid, partly reflected over the spire and hinder edges of the mouth of the shell ; branchial opening large, on each side of the head : snout broad : tentacles cylindrical, rather long ; tips brunt : eyes small and black, on swollen offsets : foot lanceolate, broad, and rounded in front with large ear-shaped corners, bluntly pointed behind : gills pale-red, forming a single plume. Shell more oblong than oval, nearly membranous, semi- transparent, having scarcely any lustre: sculpture, obscure spiral striae and irregular lines of growth ; the apex is micro- scopically and closely striated in a spiral direction : colour yellowish, becoming yellowish -brown or coppery in aged spe- cimens ; apex usually whitish : epidermis tough, but easily separated into slight fibrous plaits : spire obliquely twisted upwards : iclwrls 2|, ventricose in fresh, but compressed (from collapse) in dried specimens; the last occupies almost the whole of the shell : suture deep, and exposing a considerable part of the penultimate whorl: mouth oval, placed below the periphery, expanding outwards, and equalling in length four-fifths of the shell ; base rounded : outer lip not much curved, reflected when the shell is dried — often so much so as to form a blunt and thickened edge : inner lip semicircular, dark orange, of a uniform width, thick, slightly reflected, and forming with the outer lip a complete peristome. L. 0*5. B. 0-35. Habitat : Among Tubularia indivisa and other zoo- phytes, on stony or hard ground, in the coralline zone, Northumberland and Durham (Alder and others), He- brides and west of Scotland (Forbes and others), Aber- deen (Macgillivray), Dunnet Bay, Caithness (Peach), * Flexible. 240 VELUTINID.E. Orkneys (Goodsir and Forbes), Tresta Voe, Shetland (J. G. J.) ; no less rare than local. Scandinavia (Muller and others) ; Iceland (Steenstrnp) ; Greenland (Morch) ; Kamptschatka (Steller, fide MiddendorfF) , and perhaps the Kurile Islands (Pallas). Lives in company with V. Icevigata. Both seem fond of floating, and of getting ont of the water if confined in a vessel. The middle plate of the tongue in the pre- sent species is much deeper and proportionally narrower than in V. Icevigata ; and it has fewer notches, the central one of which does not extend half way down, instead of to the base as in the other species ; and the first side-plate has no claw, nor are the second and third pleurae so long or so much incurved. It is perhaps the Helix coriacea of Pallas, and un- doubtedly the Bulla fleocilis of Montagu. Miiller's de- scription is not less full and precise than that of his B. velutina, the identity of which, as the type of this genus, has never been questioned. Gray raised the present shell to generic rank as Velutella. 2. V. LjEviga'ta*, Pennant. Helix l&vigatum?, Venn. Br. Zool. iv. p. 140, pi. lxxxvi. f. 139. V. laevi- gata, F. & H. iii. p. 347, pi. xcix. f. 4, 5, and (animal) pi. 00. f. 7. Body milk-white, or whitish with a frosted appearance (caused by fine anastomosing lines), sometimes having a faint yellowish or pinkish hue : mantle pale yellow, often puckered (as if distended with water) ; border slightly reflected upon the shell or extending beyond its edges ; pallial sinus narrow, leading to a small round hole, which constitutes the branchial opening : snout broad, thin, somewhat bilobed, and longer than the front edge of the foot : tentacles contractile and varying in length (usually short, and widely diverging) ; tips blunt : eyes small and black, placed on tubercles : foot broad and thick, truncated or gently curved in front, with ear-shaped corners, * Smooth. VELUTINA. 241 deeply indented and narrowed on each side, and rounded or bluntly pointed behind when at rest ; it occupies nearly all the aperture of the shell ; when extended, the sole is shaped like a shoe : [gills arranged in two plumes, which are unequal in size (Clark) :] male organ falciform, short and yellow, issu- ing on the right-hand side of the head. Shell triangularly oval, not so thin as the last species, semi- transparent, lustreless except when the epidermis has been removed, or (as is sometimes the case) has failed to grow : sculpture, conspicuous and regular, but slight, spiral ridges, and numerous minute longitudinal striae, which cross the ridges in the early stages of growth ; there are also the usual lines of increase : colour whity-brown, tinged with fleshcolour or pink (especially in southern specimens) : epidermis tough, yellowish-brown, folded on the ridges of the shell, and longi- tudinally fibrous: spire twisted upwards: ivliorls 34, ventri- cose, the last occupying nearly the whole of the shell and ex- panding outwards : suture deeply channelled, so as to expose a considerable portion of the penultimate whorl : mouth roundish -oval, dilated, placed a little below the periphery, and equalling in length seven-eighths of the shell, slightly angu- lar above and rounded below ; inside white, pale orange, or fleshcolour : outer lip forming almost an arc of a circle ; the edge, being thin and covered by the epidermis, shrinks when the shell is dried, and is usually broken or cracked : inner lip lying at a lower level than the other, flexuous, and mostly white, broadly reflected on the upper part of the pillar (where it joins the outer lip), having elsewhere a thick edge ; behind it is a slight umbilical depression or chink. L. 0*8. B. 0-7. Yar. Candida. White. Habitat : Everywhere beyond tide-marks, on hard ground. The variety occurred to me on the coasts of Antrim, the Hebrides, and Shetland. Fossil in the Clyde beds (Smith and others) ; Mammalian Crag at Thorpe (S. Wood); post-glacial deposits at Uddevalla (J. G. J.), and in Norway, 30-120 feet (Sars). Inha- biting the North Atlantic, from Greenland, Spitsbergen, Lapland, and Kamptschatka to Vigo (M'Andrew) and Spezzia (J. G. J.), with a range from low-water mark VOL. IV. M 242 velutinidjE. to 150 f. ; United States (Gould and others); Canada (D 'Urban) ; North Pacific (Stimpson and P. Car- penter) . " The animal discharges a very copious and tenaci- ous clear white slime/'' Clark. According to Fabricius this secretion is frothy (like that of Helix aspersa) , and serves the Velutina for concealment. Its locomotion is slow; and its sedentary habit may be presumed from Foraminifera being frequently attached to the shell. This presumption, however, is not quite tantamount to a fact, because (as Mr. Alder reminds me) Foraminifera and Polyzoa are found on the carapace and legs of some of the smaller crabs, which are anything but stationary animals. Greenland specimens of V. laevigata are very much larger and thicker than ours. Extremely young shells have a small umbilical cavity. The Helix laevigata of Linne appears to be a lost species. It is described as of the size of a pea, trans- parent, very smooth, nearly oval, and glossy, with scarcely any umbilicus. He placed it next to Limntea auricularia ; no habitat is given. Pennant appears therefore to have considered the present species a freshwater kind. His description and figure almost suffice to identify our shell ; but were it not so, it would be inexpedient to change the familiar specific name of Icevigata. It is the Bulla velutina, Miiller, Helix haliotoides, Fabricius (not of Miiller, nor H. halioto'idea of Linne), V. capu- lo'idea, De Blainville, V. vulgaris, Fleming, V. striata, Macgillivray, V. rupicola, Conrad, Galericulum ova- tum, Brown, V. Mulleri, Deshayes, and V. halioto'idea, Stimpson. V. undata of J. Smith ( V. zonata, Gould) is fossil in the Clyde beds, the Mammalian Crag at Bramerton, Uddevalla, and Canada ; it inhabits the arctic seas of CANCELLARIID.E. 243 both continents. Another high-northern species, V. lanigera of Moller (V. elongata, Forbes and Goodsir), ]ias been fonnd by Mr. Searles Wood, according to Forbes, in the Mammalian Crag at Thorpe. Family XXIII. CANCELLAPJ'ID^, {Cancel- lariadce) Forbes and Hanley. Body regularly spiral : mantle faxing an incomplete or ru- dimentary branchial fold : head snout- shaped, and short : proboscis long, retractile : tentacles awl-shaped : eyes on stalks amalgamated with the tentacles at their outer base : foot lan- ceolate, comparatively small : gills double. Sexes separate. Shell turbinated, more or less umbilicate : spire erect : mouth grooved within at the base, and having continuous lips : pillar plaited, or else furnished with a single fold or a tuber- cle : operculum horny, not spiral, but increasing by semielliptic oblique layers. In TroscheFs classification of the Gastropoda, founded on the structure of their lingual apparatus, the present family is arranged alongside of the Velutinidce, Sigare- tidce, and Naticida? ; the same natural position is in- dicated by their shells. But it is questionable whether the odontophore affords constant characters to distin- guish species ; for, in the supplement to his excellent and elaborate treatise, the learned German Professor notices a difference as to the development of the notches in the teeth of certain specimens of Trichotropis borealis. The typical genus, Cancellaria, is not British, although abounding elsewhere in recent and fossil species of ele- gant shape and beautiful sculpture. It is said to have no operculum. So little, however, is known of the animal of that genus that I cannot compare it with the soft parts of Trichotropis ; and I w r ill therefore omit this part of the description, in treating of the latter genus. m 2 244 CANCELLARIIU^:. Genus I. TOREL'LIA*, Loven, MS. PL IV. f. 1. Shell globose, covered with a velvety epidermis : spire very short ; apex depressed : mouth roundish, furnished with a blunt tubercle on the pillar, at its base ; groove internal, scarcely perceptible [: operculum horny (Loven)]. One species only has been discovered ; it is Zetlandic and Scandinavian, and appears to be very rare. Torellia vesti'taj-, Jeffreys. Eecluzia aperta, Jeffr. in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 3rd ser. iii. p. 114, pi. iii. f. 22 a-c . Shell intermediate in shape between that of a Littorina and a Natica, rather thin, semitransparent, and of a dull hue : sculpture, numerous fine spiral stria?, besides more close-set and minute longitudinal striae, which are chiefly discernible on the base ; these latter cross the spiral striae and form short rows in their interstices : colour chalky- white : epidermis pale yellowish-brown, velvety, and marked like the surface of the shell : spire conical, with a blunt apex : wliorls 5-6, tumid and rapidly enlarging ; the last occupies three-fourths of the spire (viewed mouth downwards), and is considerably dilated : suture deeply and narrowly channelled : mouth nearly round, expanding and somewhat funnel-shaped ; the basal groove is extremely short, and is not indicated by any notch in the outer margin : outer lip semicircular and sharp-edged : inner lip somewhat flexuous, broad, and folded back over the pillar, from which it is for the most part separate: pillar curved, having at its base a callous protuberance, below which is the short groove above mentioned : umbilicus rather small, narrow, and oblique, partly concealed by the reflexion of the inner lip. L. 0-0. B. 0-6. Habitat : East coast of Shetland (Barlee) ; a single dead specimen. Although perfect, it is not in good condition. Professor Loven showed me at Stockholm a specimen which he had dredged alive on the coast of * A well-merited compliment to Dr. Otto Torell, of Lund, the recent explorer of the Arctic Ocean at Spitzbergen. t Clothed, sc. with a thick epidermis. TRICHOTROPIS. 245 Norway : he said the animal has the produced lips and lingual dentition of Capulus, and that the operculum is like that of Trichotropis, and supported by a rounded lobe on each side. When I first described this remarkable shell, I erro- neously supposed it to belong to the genus Recluzia of M. Petit, and that it might be the Natica aperta of Loven. I have therefore now withdrawn these generic and specific names, and substituted others in their stead. Genus II. TRICHO'TROPIS* Broderip and Sowerby. PI. IV. f. 2. Shell conical, covered with a horny epidermis, which rises into bristly points on the ridges encircling the whorls : spire more or less elongated, with a pointed apex : mouth angularly oval, furnished with an oblique and blunt fold on the pillar, near its base ; groove shallow, conspicuous, but not indicated outside by any notch : operculum pear-shaped, small, formed of curved laminae in the line of growth, with a nearly terminal nucleus. Trichotropis makes an approach to the canaliferous univalves or Siphonobranchiata. It inhabits stony ground in the coralline zone and sometimes in deeper water. " Lingual dentition similar to Strombus ; teeth single, hamate, denticulated ; vncini 3, 1 denticulate, 2 and 3 simple/' Woodward. The species are mostly arctic and antarctic ; one has been described and figured by M. Petit from the Mauritius. Trichotropis BOREA'Lisf, Broderip and Sowerby. T. borealis, Brod. & Sow. in Zool. Journ. iv. p. 395. ■ T. borealis, F. & H iii. p. 361, pi. ci. f. 5, 6, and (animal) pi. II. f. 1. Body creamcolour, or milk-white, minutely and irregularly speckled with pale yellow : mantle thick ; branchial fold ex- * Having hairy keels. t Northern. 246 CANCELLARIID.E. trernely short, and widely open : snout short, deeply bilobed, placed between the tentacles so as to keep them far apart : ten- tacles rather long and tapering, with blunt tips, much thicker on the lower third portion : eyes small and black ; stalks about one-third the length of the tentacles : foot thick and narrow, rounded and double-edged in front, with a small triangular Lobe at each corner, angulated and wedge-shaped behind. Shell turreted, somewhat spindle-shaped or pointed at each end, with the base much shorter than the apex ; it is solid, opaque, and lustreless : sculpture, several spiral cord-like ridges or ribs, of which 3 or 4 on the body-whorl, and 2 on each of the upper whorls are the strongest and most promi- nent ; between these are smaller ribs, viz. 3 between the suture and the uppermost of the principal ridges on the body-whorl, 1 between that and each of the next two or three ridges, and 4 or 5 between the lowest ridge and the basal peak .; the whole surface is also covered with microscopic spiral lines ; besides the spiral sculpture the shell is closely and obliquely traversed lengthwise by line thread-like striae, so that the crests of the ridges and smaller ribs are delicately beaded : colour whitish, sometimes tinged with reddish-brown : epidermis pale yel- lowish-brown, forming thorn-like points or bristles on the crests of the principal ridges; these bristles are sometimes double : spire considerably elongated and finely pointed : ivlwrls 7, moderately convex, but having a sharply angulated appear^ ance, owing to the prominence of some of the spiral ribs ; the last occupies seven -twelfths of the spire (viewed mouth down- wards), and is somewhat dilated ; top whorl smooth and glossy, twisted upwards : suture deep, channelled between the lower two or three whorls but not between the upper ones : mouth inversely pear-shaped, somewhat expanding outwards, not much more than half the length of the spire ; inside white, pale orange, or yellowish-brown ; the basal groove is angular, but not indicated by any notch in the outer margin : outer lip rounded, incurved on the periphery, with thin and scalloped edges, and fringed by the epidermis ; the inside, or throat of the mouth, is grooved beneath the spiral ridges : inner lip nexuous, broad, and reflected on the pillar, to which it is for the most part attached : pillar also flexuous, having near its base a blunt fold, which extends obliquely upwards along the spire ; below this fold is the short siphonal canal: umbi- licus small, narrow, and curved : operculum obliquely oval, with a pointed termination, yellowish-brown, composed of TRICHOTROPIS. 247 flexuous laminae, and irregularly striated ; nucleus small, seldom if ever retained, in consequence of the terminal portion being easily broken off. L. 0-6. B. 0-325. Yar. acuminata. Spire much longer and more tapering. Habitat : Hard ground, in the coralline and deep- sea zones, on our northern coasts, from the Dogger bank to the extremity of the Shetland Isles ; local, but not rare. It is tolerably plentiful m the west of Scot- land. North Channel, Irish Sea(Hyndman and J. G. J.) ; Lough Strangford (Dickie); co. Galway (Barlee). The variety is Zetlandic. Fossil on Moel Tryfaen, 1330- 1360 feet (Darbishire) ; Clyde beds (Crosskey) ; " Ire- land, Bute, Richmond " (Smith) ; Cruden, Aberdeen- shire, " from Crag beds n . ( Jamieson) ; Mammalian Crag at Bridlington, and Coralline Crag (Wood) ; post-glacial deposits in Norway, 0-80 feet (Sars) ; Uddevalla(J. G. J .); Canada (Dawson) . Living in the Arctic Ocean of both hemispheres, Sitka Island, Iceland, Faroe Isles, Norway, United States, and Canada; depths recorded 5-150 f. In crawling it swaggers from side to side. The verge is falciform, above the right-hand tentacle. Stimpson says that the shell is frequently found in the stomachs of haddocks in Casco Bay. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the sculpture with which the shell is decorated ; it is a piece of really dainty work. My largest specimen measures seven lines in length, and belongs to the variety. Sometimes either the spire or the mouth is twisted on one side. North American specimens are larger, thinner, and have more tumid whorls. The discoverer of this shell was Capt. Laskey, who figured it in the 1st volume of the ' Memoirs of the Werner ian Society ; ' he considered it the young of Pennant' s Murex carinatus. For the same reason which I gave for changing the specific name of Torellia, 24& APORRHAID.E. borealis must replace carinata in the present case ; and it has, besides, the advantage of being in general use. It is the Fusus umbilicatus of Smith, F. Laskeyi of Macgillivray, Trichotropis costellatus of Couthouy, T. acuminata of myself, T. atlantica (Beck) of Moller, and T. cancellata of Hinds. T. insignis of Middendorff occurs in the post-glacial deposit at Bridlington, and was noticed by Searles Wood as a variety of T. borealis. It inhabits Behrmg's Straits. Admete or Cancellaria viridula (Tritonium viridulum of Fabricius) is also extinct in these seas, its shell being not uncommon in the Bridlington bed, as well as in the Red and Coralline Crag at Sutton. It survives in more northern latitudes, and on the east coast of North America. J. Sowerby described and figured this shell as Murex costellifer ; it is the Admete crispa of Moller, and has other names as a species of Cancellaria. Tros- chel regards A. viridula as distinct from A. crispa, and the genus Admete as the type of a family distinct from that of Cancellaria. Family XXIV. APORRHA'ID.E, Troschel. Body spiral : mantle large and loose, forming a very short branchial fold at the partially channelled base of the shell, which it lines : snout cylindrical, contractile, notched in front : tentacles awl-shaped, separate : eyes on bulgings or short stalks, at the outer base of the tentacles : foot small, lanceolate : gills arranged in a single narrow plume : odontophore enveloped in a sheath, straight ; rhachis single ; pleurae or uncini 3, plain- edged. Shell, when young, spindle-shaped, never umbilicate : spire turreted and tapering: mouth widely expanding: operculum APORRHAIS. 249 small, horny, pear-shaped, increasing by semielliptical layers ; nucleus nearly terminal, at the base of the mouth. Included, with Strombus, in a Les Ailees ;; of Lamarck. Genus APORRHAIS* Da Costa. PI. IV. f. 3. Shell sculptured with nodulous ribs and fine spiral striae : spire ending in a blunt button-shaped point : whorls numerous : mouth angulated : outer lip usually dilated into several dic- tations or wing-like processes, each of which is narrowly and slightly grooved and terminates in an angular point or !>pike : base forming a shallow and beak-like rudimentary canal. A shell-fish so peculiar and common in the Archi- pelago as A. pes-pelecani must have been known to " the father of natural history/'' He mentions it as one of the univalves possessing an operculum (iiriKciXvfjifia or ttw/jlo) which makes such shells bivalve. The muzzle seems to be of an intermediate kind between the snout- like head of Trichotropis and the true proboscis of Pur- pura. The difference of shape in the immature shell was pointed out by Lamarck j and its resemblance to that of Cerithium was urged by Swainson as a reason for merging the last-named genus in the StrombicUe. Aporrhais of Aldrovandi and Aporrais of Gualtieri is the Pterocera of Lamarck. Petiver was the first to use the present name in its restricted sense ; and the genus was sufficiently defined by Da Costa. The Aporrhais of Klein was one of the Valuta family. Klein's genera ought not to be recognized; they are ill- compounded, and much too extensive. In some cases each of his species comprises several modern genera. On the other hand, he calls Murex a class, and divides it into two * Probably the d-KoppaXs of Aristotle, so named from the split or rag- ged shape of the outer lip. M 5 250 APORRHAIDiE. genera, viz. Murex frondosus and Murex costosus. The present genus is his Pes anserinus. Philippi more cor- rectly, but unnecessarily, renamed it Chenopus. 1. Aporrhais pes-peleca'ni*, Linne. Strombus pes pelecani, Linn. S. N. p. 1207. A. pes-pelecani, F. & H. iii. p. 188, pi. lxxxix. f. 4, and (animal) pi. II. f. 3. Body creamcolour, mottled in front with purplish -brown, or light purplish-brown, with white flakes and specks : snout extending far beyond the foot, often pinkish, minutely speckled with yellow or white dots ; edges sometimes yellow ; extremity cloven perpendicularly : tentacles diverging, fleshcolour, with a scarlet or white line down the middle, speckled like the snout ; tips blunt, sometimes dark brown : eyes small, black, placed on prominent bulbs : foot extensile, narrow, white (occasionally spotted with .pink), attached to the rest of the body by a broad and thick neck or stalk, square in front and rounded behind : verge long, strap-shaped, recurved, and yellow: odontophore short [; rhachis broad and convex above, narrower below, the front or cutting edge having a central spire and notched on each side ; uncini, 1st nearly transverse, with its upper margin folded, 2nd and 3rd claw-like, slender, elongated, and inter- crossing with those on the opposite side. (Loven)]. Shell having an irregularly triangular or shoulder-of-mut- ton shape, with a jagged outline, solid, opaque, somewhat glossy : sculpture, short longitudinal ribs, which are thick and nodose or tubercular on the lower whorls, thin and curved on the upper whorls, becoming more numerous and very fine to- wards the point of the spire ; there are 3 rows of nodules on the body-whorl, those of the uppermost row being the largest, those of the middle row next in size, and those of the lowest row small, bead-like, and more or less confluent ; the rows are continued and project in the form of ridges on the pterygoid or wing-like processes of the outer lip (all of which are similarly strengthened), like the joints of a bat's wing; each of the next two or three whorls has only 2 rows, viz. one of large nodules in the middle, the other (which is frequently indistinct) of small beads close to the suture ; the entire sur- face of the shell is covered with delicate and close-set impressed * Pelican's foot. APORRHAIS. 251 spiral lines or striae : colour pale yellowish-white, sometimes tinged with fleshcolour or reddish-brown : spire elongated ; apex compressed : whorls 12, convex, all but the last of those near the apex angulated in the middle ; the body-whorl is twisted upwards, and occupies more than five-eighths of the spire ; the first two or three whorls are tumid, quite smooth, and glossy: suture distinct, deeper between the upper than between the lower whorls : mouth narrow, shaped like a lance- head with the point downwards : outer lip large, white, micro- scopically granulated inside ; it is expanded into a broad flap in front, a triangular and incurved process at the base, and another triangular process at the upper corner of the mouth ; the flap has 3 angular processes, the uppermost being larger than either of the other two, which approximate ; each of these different processes (5 in number) is grooved in the middle, but the smallest process (which is situate next to the base, and is sometimes rudimentary) less distinctly ; the process above the outer lip diverges from the spire, and seldom extends higher than within six whorls from the apex : inner lip spread like a white enamel over the under side of the last and jDenultimate whorls, as well as over the basal process or beak, behind which it is folded so as to make a slight cavity : operculum closely laminated, with an obscure and irregular nucleus, faintly stri- ated lengthwise. L. 1*85. B. (to the extreme point of the outer lip) 1-25. Var. albida. "Whitish. Habitat : Coralline zone (occasionally the deep-sea zone also) on all our coasts. The variety was found by Mr. Waller in Dublin Bay, and by myself in Shetland. This common shell has been recorded from the upper Miocene, Pliocene, and almost every newer tertiary and quaternary deposit in Europe, from the sea- level to 1360 feet above it. North Atlantic from Finmark and Iceland to Gibraltar, the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and iEgean, at various depths between 5 and 100 f. It is shy, slow, and awkward in its movements, twisting about its long neck and foot in order to gain a creeping- posture. Among other fanciful names given to this odd-looking shell are " blobber-lipt Edinburgh whilk" 252 APORRHAIDiE. of Petiver, " aile de chauve-souris femelle " or u patte d'oye " of D'Avila, and " zamarugola " of the Venetians, by the poorer class of which people the animal was — perhaps is still — eaten. According to Mr. Couch, So- faster papposus also reckons it an agreeable kind of food : when the soft portion has been digested, the empty shell is rejected, and becomes the habitation of a Sipunculus, which narrows the too capacious entrance with aggluti- nated sand. Specimens from deep water are smaller than those from the coast. The top of old but living shells which had lost their upper story is sometimes closed by a semispiral plug or septum of new shelly matter ; the apex is very seldom perfect in full-grown specimens. When the outer lip is complete the sub- sequent growth takes place by adding fresh layers inside ; so that the age of the individual is probably shown by the number of such layers. In immature specimens the commencement of the pterygoid or wing-like flap of the outer lip is defined by a rib of enamel along the mouth, which likewise lines the canal at the base as well as the upper process of the flap. Still younger specimens, before any sign of the flap appears, have the outer lip flexuous, with a wide and deep sinus at the upper part, and a long straight canal at the base. In this stage of growth they strongly resemble Fusi. The fry form a short cylinder. Monstrosities are not un- common, especially in the shape and relative size of the digitated processes ; the basal point, however, is always formed like a spear-head. Da Costa altered the specific name to quadrifidus. APORRHAIS. 253 2. A. Macan'dre.e*, Jeffreys. A. pes-carboms, F. & H. iii. p. 186, pi. lxxxix. f. 5, 6. Body whitish, with a triangular patch of light pink on the neck : snout not extending as far as the foot, tinged on the upper side with pink, and divided down the front by a flake- white line or streak : tentacles sometimes curved like the horns of an ox, one on each side of the snout, speckled towards the tips with flake-white, and marked on the upper side by a white line down the middle ; tips blunt, and j-ellow : eyes prominent, on short tubercles or stalks : foot narrow, in front obtusely rounded or nearly truncated, with a short angular corner at each side, behind pointed. Shell much smaller and of a more delicate shape and finer texture than the last species ; when young it is thin, transpa- rent, and glossy : sculpture nearly similar ; but the ribs on the last two whorls are less knotty ; the riblets on the upper whorls are more numerous ; the spiral stria? are stronger and fewer on the lower part of the body- whorl and on the back of the outer lip, and are sometimes alternately large and small: colour whitish, sometimes having a pale fawn tinge : spire rather short ; it does not taper as in the other species, nor is the apex so liable to be broken off : whorls 7-8, convex, but not angu- lated : suture less distinct between the lower whorls, owing to the above want of angularity: mouth proportionally shorter and wider : outer lip relatively larger, more palmated and flatter, divided into 4 processes, besides the basal point ; all these form spikes, and far exceed in length the digitated pro- cesses of A. pes-pelecani ; in the present species the upper- most spike frequently extends beyond the spire in a parallel direction, and is bent backwards ; the lowermost spike has about the same length, and is also finely pointed, being slightly curved outwards ; the three spikes which belong to the pterygoid flap or expansion project considerably, and are separate ; the smaller two resemble the fork made by divided fingers ; all the spikes are similarly grooved ; the inside of the outer lip is microscopically pustulated : inner lip thin, spread over the lower side of the last three whorls; basal * Named in honour of the discoverer, Mr. Robert M'Andrew, who has done so much to increase our knowledge of the Mollusca of the European seas. 254 aporrhaid^e. fold long and narrow: operculum slighter than that of A.pes- pelecani, but agreeing with it in other respects. L. 1*2. B. (to the furthest spike of the pterygoid flap) 1. Habitat : Muddy sand in 40-85 f. on the east coast of Shetland, at a distance from land of 6-50 miles (M f Andrew, Barlee, and J. G. J.) • it is gregarious, although very local. M*" Andrew and Barrett dredged a single dead specimen off the coast of Upper Norway, at a depth of 70 f. • but no Scandinavian zoologist appears to have met with it. This mollusk is not so inactive as its associate, A. pes- pelecani. Its faeces are oval and brownish. Mon- strosities'of the shell sometimes occur : one has the top spike double or forked, another has four digitated pro- cesses on the outer lip, and in a third the top spike is attached to the lower five whorls. Some specimens are much smaller than others; I have given the average dimensions. A. pes-carbonis of Brongniart (a fossil of the upper Miocene formation of Bordeaux and Antwerp) is equally small, but a much stronger shell; and the basal process is short, spear-head-shaped and incurved, as in A. pes- pelecani. The present species differs from A. Serresiana (a Mediterranean shell) in its smaller size, delicate tex- ture, fewer and rounded (instead of angulated) whorls, and in the spire being much less tapering. Size alone is, of course, not an infallible criterion of distinctness — especially if we take into account the depth of water and distance from land ; but it is remarkable that Zetlandie specimens of Pecten aratus (P. Bruei) , P. Testce, P. septemradiatus, var. Dumasii, Tellina balaustina, and many other species are larger than those from the south of Europe. If Philippi had not described his Chenopus desciscens (a Palermitan and Calabrian fossil) as having CERTTHIID^E. 255 four keels or rows of tubercles ou the last whorl, I should have been inclined to consider our shell identical with it. Family XXV. CERITHI'ID^E, (Cerithiadw) Fleming. Body spiral, elongated : mantle fringed at its outer edges, and forming in front a very short semitubular fold, which is not protruded beyond the notch in the shell : head snout-like and contractile ; there is no proboscis : tentacles awl-shaped, separate at the base, and connected by a sinuous veil or mem- brane : eyes placed on bulgings outside the base of the ten- tacles : foot lanceolate: gill-plume single, composed of triangular plates : jaws or cheek-plates triangular : odontophore very short and straight, spinous ; teeth 3.1.3. Sexes distinct. Shell pyramidal, nearly always tuberculated, sometimes furnished with varices or persistent edges of the mouth, never umbilicate : spire tapering to a fine point : whorls numerous : suture slight : mouth small ; groove at the base short and re- curved : operculum horny, nearly circular, and spiral, with few whorls ; nucleus not quite central, but on the inner side of the mouth. An extremely prolific and widely diffused family, having perhaps few genera, although these abound in species both recent and fossil. The latter are almost countless. Deshayes, a long time ago, enumerated between 400 and 500 fossil species of Cerithium ; and they have since multiplied beyond all reasonable bounds. Quousque ? Their sculpture is very elegant and diver- sified ; Lamarck recommended it to architects as a pat- tern for the ornamentation of columns. With respect to the animal, I would advise conchologists to study the careful observations of my friend Mr. Berkeley, on the anatomy of C. telescopium, in the 5th volume of the ' Zoological Journal/ 256 CERITHIID.E. This family has some relations to Turritellidce and Scalariidce ; but, in the present state of our knowledge, it is impossible to make a complete system of arrange- ment for the Mollusca, or one which will fit every group into its proper place. Genus CERI'THIUM* Adanson. PL IV. f. 4. Body slender : head broad and short : [nientum distinct, nearly free in front, actively vibra