OCR Text |
Show 204 MR. E. A. SMITH ON MOLLUSCA FROM JAPAN. [Feb. 18, 51. Fusus SIMPLEX. (Plate XX. fig. 35.) Shell fusiform, white, clothed with a smooth greyish-olive epidermis. Whorls sloping and slightly concave at the upper part, bulging beneath and contracted at the base, carinately margined above at the suture, obliquely nodosely plicate and spirally Urate; plica? or costa? eight or nine on the upper whorls, rounded, large, almost obsolete at the upper part; spiral lira? about six in number on a whorl, whereof three around the lower portion are the stoutest; besides these lira?, at times a few fine thread-like lirula? are present in the interstices. Last whorl with the costa? not extending below the middle, Urate throughout, the lira? on the rostrum being very fine and close together. Aperture suboval, together with the canal equal in length to the spire above it; columella arcuate above, tortuous beneath; canal shorter than the aperture and a little recurved. Length 18 millims., diam. 5\. Hab. Station 29. The shell above described may possibly not be of adult growth. It consists of but seven whorls, which is a small number for a species of true Fusus. However, I cannot identify it as the young state of any described species. It is remarkable for the absence of colouring of any kind and the shortness of the canal. The thickened margin of the whorls is rather oblique and scarcely undulating, as the longitudinal plica? are somewhat obsolete at the lower part as well as above. 52. Fusus COREANICUS. (Plate XX. fig. 36.) Shell fusiform, dirty diluted flesh-colour, streaked with dark brown upon the costae. Whorls 7-5-8 ; nucleus consisting of one and a half to two whorls, smooth, globose ; remaining volutions sloping and a trifle excavated above, margined at the suture, somewhat angular at the middle, a little convex beneath and much contracted at the base, longitudinally costate and transversely ridged; costae or plicae only slightly prominent, but little oblique, twelve in number on the penultimate whorl; spiral lira? close-set, pretty regularly alternately fine and coarser, about twelve on a whorl, whereof three or four around the lower half are larger than the rest and subnodulous on the ribs ; the latter become obsolete about the middle of the body-whorl, which is rather suddenly contracted just below that point, and produced into a short oblique rostrum. Aperture ovate, fuscous within, with the canal occupying only five elevenths of the entire length ; columella smooth, arcuate above, very oblique inferiorly ; canal short, slightly retroverted. Length 22 millims., diam. 8. Hab. Station 29. This species is remarkable for the brevity of the canal and the style of colouring. The dark stripes always appear to fall upon the ribs, and they are somewhat interrupted by the stoutest of the transverse lirae, which are rather nodulous and dirty whitish. The thickened margin at the top of the whorls is also pale. |