THE NAUTILUS. 47 



shell both in sculpture and color. A perfect shell of the 

 smooth or more typical form shows interesting phases in sculp- 

 ture in the early growth of the shell, the protoconch and about 

 half a whorl of the young shell being smooth, followed by 

 about half a whorl with only longitudinal ridges; this is fol- 

 lowed by two whorls with prominent spiral ridges which gradu- 

 ally become obsolete or wanting except near the suture, these 

 subsutural ridges increasing in prominence and often becoming 

 crenulated or beaded on the last two whorls. On the anterior 

 portion of the shell are also prominent spiral ridges. Some of 

 the specimens from the Bahamas have a decided shoulder on 

 the body whorl. Color whitish, mottled with brown or reddish 

 blotches and with from 26-33 dark-brown spiral lines on the 

 body whorl. Two specimens from the West Indies are uni- 

 formly light brown with the usual dark-brown spiral lines. 

 Simpson says: "A mahogany-colored form is occasionally 

 found on the Keys." It varies in length from 5 to 8 inches 

 (125 to 200 mm.) and is found from North Carolina to the 

 West Indies and Venezuela. 



The varietal name of obsolete was applied to a smooth form 

 from St. Thomas, but this cannot really be separated. There 

 is, however, a form in which the spiral grooves and ridges cover 

 the entire shell. Tryon (Manual III, 74) says: "I figure a 

 rugose form which Dunker intended at one time to describe as 

 F. scheepmalceri but finally illustrated in his ' Novitates ' as a 

 variety of F. tulipa." This name might therefore be used in a 

 varietal sense for this form which is quite common on the Gulf 

 coast of Florida. 



Fasciolaria distans Lamarck. 



As pointed out by Dr. Dall and others, this is a good species 

 and not a variety of F. tulipa Linn., as stated by Tryon and 

 later by Miss Rogers in the "Shell Book." It is smaller and 

 smoother, having only faint spiral sulcations on two of the 

 early whorls near the nucleus, and spiral ridges on the narrow 

 anterior portion. There is also present an internal ridge on the 

 body whorl in front of the suture. Color whitish, with bluish- 

 gray or brown blotches and usually with five or six equidistant, 



