OCR Text |
Show 1879.] MR. E. A. SMITH ON MOLLUSCA FROM JAPAN. 203 lated, contracted to the base, longitudinally plicate, and prominently spirally ridged; plica? suberect, becoming obsolete above the angulation, ten on the penultimate whorl ; transverse lira? of different thicknesses, two around the middle and one at the lower suture of the whorls specially prominent, forming acute compressed transverse nodules upon the costa?; about fourteen on the upper whorls, all subgranose through being crossed by deep stria? of growth ; on the body-whorl there is a fourth especially prominent lira falling within the aperture, just beneath the upper extremity of the labrum. Aperture bluish or purplish within, with the dark streaks of the exterior showing through, together with the canal equal to half the length of the shell ; columella arcuate and whitish or livid above, oblique and purplish black below the middle; canal oblique, of moderate length, only a trifle reflexed. Length 50 millims., diam. 17 Hab. Station 29. The epidermis of this interesting form is of a brown colour, longitudinally, finely, and exceedingly closely lamellated, bearing upon the transverse lira? minute acute productions somewhat resembling short hairs. 50. Fusus NIPONICUS. (Plate XX. fig. 34.) Shell fusiform, brownish white or sordid yellowish, stained at the upper part of the whorls with brown, and ornamented with a narrow zone of the same colour around the middle of the last whorl. Whorls 7, apical one smooth, mamillar, the rest longitudinally plicated and transversely ridged, sloping above, and then very convex; plica? or ribs oblique, not much elevated, attenuated and faint at the upper ends, eleven in number on the last whorl, attenuating and vanishing just below the middle or convex portion. Transverse lirae numerous ; most of them (about eleven on the penultimate whorl) are very fine, thread-like, and simple ; but two or three stouter than the preceding, and situated at some distance apart at the middle portion of the whorls, on crossing the plicae are elevated into compressed and transversely elongated tubercles ; suture prettily wavy, margined with the thickened upper edge of the volutions ; last contracted below the middle, and produced into an elongated cauda, which is obliquely and rather closely and finely Urate; the transverse ridges, which become tubercular, number about six or seven on this volution, three of them being more conspicuous than the others. Aperture with the canal equal to about four sevenths of the whole length, whitish within; columella smooth, thinly enamelled, tortuous; canal elongate, narrow, oblique. Length 22 millims., width 7. Hab. Station 25. The two specimens of this delicately sculptured species do not, I imagine, represent the ultimate size to which in all probability it attains. The coloured bands are not very conspicuous ; and 'the entire surface is sculptured by the lines of growth, those immediately beneath the suture being arcuate and especially observable. |