OCR Text |
Show 422 MR. E. A. SMITH ON SHELLS FROM ADEN. [June 16, Philippi), D. ovalis, Romer, D. eunice, A. Adams, and perhaps D. bisecta, Reeve. The first three species were described from specimens from unknown localities and the last was said to be Japanese. Artemis ccelata, Reeve, considered by Romer to be synonymous with D. pubescens, is distinct. Thelunule is longer and not so deep ; the posterior dorsal area is seen to be different on comparison, and the concentric ridges are more conspicuously elevated at the extremities, forming a sort of crest circumscribing not only the posterior area, but also the lunule in front. The anterior muscular impression is narrower and the hinge-plate not quite so strong as in D. pubescens. D. erythrcea, Rdmer, was described from a specimen said to have come from Aden. It certainly is the same species as D. radiata, Reeve, and D. amphidesmoides, Reeve, and the shell identified by Deshayes ' as D. di/alata of Philippi also belongs to the same form. Reeve quotes " Mouth of the Gambia " as the locality for D. radiata, and it has been suggested by Menke and Romer that this species is the " Colan" of Adanson. I am much inclined to doubt the accuracy of this identification and also of Reeve's habitat2. D. amphidesmoides is a Philippine shell; D. erythrcea, as stated above, is from Aden, and Deshayes's specimen of D. dilatata in the Museum also came from the Red Sea. 186. DOSINIA ALTA, Dunker. Hab. Red Sea. 187. SUNETTA CONTEMPTA, nom. nov. Meroe menstrualis, Reeve (non Menke), Conch. Icon. vol. xiv. fig. 9. This species is not the young of the Japanese S. menstrualis as supposed by Romer (Monog. Sunetta, p. 14). It is more convex, its shape is different, the ends being more equal than in Menke's species, and the valves are seen to be thicker and stronger when shells of equal size are compared. The interior is more or less purplish or purplish brown. In S. menstrualis the pallial sinus terminates in an acute point, whereas in the present species it is rounded. I would here point out the shells figured both by Sowerby 3 and Reeve* as *S. excavata are rather young specimens of S. menstrualis. Sowerby, however (pi. c'.xiii. fig. 17, not 16 as in text p. 742), has correctly depicted S. excavata by copying Philippi's figure0 of S. vaginalis, which is a synonym of that species. In my opinion <$. alicia, Adams and Angas, is also synonymous. <S. subquadrata (Sowerby, pi. 129. f. 9, and Reeve, f. 7, as vaginalis), as suggested by Romer, may be the young of excavata, but it seems to be lather more oblong. 1 Cat. Conch. Biv. Mus. Brit, part i. p. 12. 2 Issel quotes B. radiata from Suez (Mai. Mar. Boss. p. 72). 3 Thes. Conch, vol. ii. pi. 126. ff. 13, 14. 4 Conch. Icon. Meroe, pi. iii. ff. 11 a-b. 5 Abbild. vol. ii. Cytherca, pi. iii. f. 2. |