268 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1893. 



the last J whorl; whorls rather more than 3?, regularly increasing, 

 a little angular at the periphery, with a rather deep suture, the last 

 moderately wide, distinctly flattened above and sloping outward, 

 somewhat expanding toward the aperture, ascending before, moder- 

 ately descending in front, a little more so at the suture; aperture 

 very oblique and inclined, transversely elongate, markedly flattened 

 above, moderately curved below (not subangular) somewhat angu- 

 lar at the periphery, margins approximate, the superior more 

 advancing in front than the inferior ; peristome, except above, 

 moderately and abruptly everted with a rather thin, almost glassy 

 transparent, hardly white, lip. 



Diam. maj. 2'3 (2'2) min. 1-9, alt, 1-0 mm. 



Soft parts not examined. 



Shanghai, China ; Kobi, Niphon, Japan (Acad. Coll.) Dunca 

 Yosky, (?) Japan, (Nat. Mus. Coll.). 



As far as I can judge from the few specimens seen, I believe V. 

 tenera Reinh. is a well-characterized species. 



To the kindness of Dr. O. v. Mcellendorff, I owe three specimens 

 of V. pulchelhda Heude, from Shanghai, China, One of them has 

 a diam. maj. of 2 - 3, the others of scarcely 2 - 2 mm.; the former corre- 

 sponds exactly with those of tenera Reinh., described above, while 

 the two smaller ones are somewhat different in coloration, which is 

 rather yellowish horn, and in their umbilicus being a little narrower 

 in the upper part and then more rapidly widening. In the collec- 

 tion of the Academy there are two specimens of V. pulchelhda Hde. 

 from China said to be authentic ; one although not quite mature, 

 agrees in every particular, as far as it goes, with V. tenera; the other 

 is not quite fresh, diam. scarcely 2*2, and here also the umbilicus is 

 first a little narrower and more rapidly widens in the latter part ; 

 the lip is quite thin, though distinct, the coloration somewhat indis- 

 tinctly yellowish horn, the spire somewhat more elevated, and the 

 last whorl descending very slowly, yet the suture being below the 

 periphery at the aperture. This form is represented in Man. Conch., 

 PI. 33, fig. 53. 



From all this we may conclude that V. pulchettula Hde. is not 

 specifically distinct from tenera Reinh., the latter name having pri- 

 ority. The somewhat different form noted above, and rather 

 closely corresponding in the two lots, which possibly or even prob- 

 ably, are from the same place, may represent a var. pulchettula 

 Hde., if they agree with the original description, which I have not 



