OCR Text |
Show 1884.] 'LIGHTNING' AND'PORCUPINE' EXPEDITIONS. 343 2. ACLIS SUPRANITIDA, S. Wood. Alvania supranitida, S. Wood, Cat. Crag. Moll. 1842. Aclis supranitida, B. C. iv. p. 103, pi. ii. fig. 4. 'Porcupine'Exp. 1869: St. 18, Donegal Bay (fine and living specimens), N. Channel. 1870: Atl. Vigo Bay; Med. 30, 55, Adventure Bank. Distribution. W . Norway to the Mediterranean and Adriatic, Madeira and Canaries (McAndrew); 8-108 fms. Fossil. Pliocene : Coralline Crag and Italy. Post-tertiary : Norway (Crosskey and Bobertson), Belfast (Stewart). The synonyms are referable not only to Aclis, but also to Turritella, Alvania, and Pyramis, with various specific names ; for these see ' British Conchology.' The following is an extract from m y note-book as to the Donegal Bay specimens : - " B O D Y clear white, with a pink streak down the middle : mantle rather thin: snout or mentum bilobed in front: tentacles triangular (being a modification of those in Odostomia), with blunt tips : eyes 2, black, small, sessile on the head at the inner base of the tentacles: foot elongated, squarish in front and pointed behind: operculum thin, striated in the line of growth ; spire small, placed close to the inner or pillar lip." Sculpture of the shell very variable, sometimes altogether wanting. 3. ACLIS WALLERI, Jeffreys. A. walleri, B. C. iv. p. 105 ; v. p. 210, pi. lxxii. fig. 4. 'Porcupine' Exp. 1869: St. 15, 19, 36, 47. 1870: Atl. 3, 6, 9, 16, 17, I7fl; Med. Adventure Bank. Distribution. ' Voringen ' Arctic Expedition and Loffoden Isles to the Gulf of Egina, N e w England (Verrill), off C. Verd I. ('Talisman' Exp.); 10-1192 fms. Fossil. Pliocene : Coralline Crag, Calabria, and Sicily. Synonyms. A. terebralis, M . Sars, MS., var. minor as A. exigua, G. O. Sars, and Odostomia nisoides, Brugnone. Monterosato prefers to spell the specific name " valleri" ; but it is evident that, although there is no letter W in the Latin language, it would not be right to alter the name in order to put it into a classical dress, and the identification of valleri with the name of the discoverer of the present species would be lost. This pretty shell is very variable in size as well as in sculpture. Some specimens from the 'Porcupine' Expedition of 1870 show indistinct traces of spiral ridges on the last whorl and of longitudinal ribs on the upper whorls, while others have a slight keel on the periphery. But not one of these characters is constant. M. Bour-guignat, indeed, says, in his second letter to Professor Brusina f'Lettres malacologiques,' Paris, 1882, pp. 36-38), " La nouvelle 6cole distingue done, sur un nom special, toute forme ayant des caracteres constants, pourvu que ses caracteres soient au nombre de trois. Au-dessous de ce nombre elle rejette les formes au rang de variete." The words italicized are similarly emphasized in the |