456 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [July, 



described and figured by Stoliczka 3 in 1867 from South India and 

 referred to the Cancellariidse. It differs from Cancellaria, in gen- 

 eral, by the development of a well-defined canal, by its lack of sharp 

 and conspicuous cancellate sculpture, and further by its less acumi- 

 nate spire. It differs from Narona, a subgenus of Cancellaria, in 

 having a longer canal, a spire less acutely elevated, an anterior 

 columellar plait more elevated than the posterior, instead of less so. 

 Probably Mataxa is nearer the rare recent subgenus Massyla* than 

 any other form in the genus Cancellaria, but in this comparison, too, 

 there are generic and time differences so great that it seems advisable 

 to assign the Tennessee and South Indian forms to a new genus. 

 Mataxa differs from Massyla in possessing a thicker, stouter and 

 more solidly built shell; in having a comparatively long recurved 

 canal, and further in nuclear characters. The protoconch of Massyla 

 is trochoid, while in the nucleus of Mataxa the early volutions are 

 for the most part submerged. 



Mataxa elegans sp. nov. PI. XXIII, figs. 1, 2, 3. 



Description. — Shell of medium size, ovate in outline; spire less 

 than half the entire length of the shell; whorls of conch three and a 

 half in number; protoconch large, smooth and obtuse,' thrice coiled, 

 the first and second volutions for the most part immersed and coiled 

 in a single plane, the final whorl of the protoconch moderately 

 elevated, increasing rapidly in size; surface of conch slightly glazed 

 and inconspicuously sculptured; axials reduced to fine incrementals 

 and one or two exaggerated resting stages; spiral sculpture of low, 

 broad, flattened bands, eight in number upon the penultima of the 

 type, the two posterior the widest and separated from one another 

 by a wide and rather deep sulcus; body spirals very obscure, increas- 

 ingly so toward the aperture, more than 30 in number, interspaces 

 wider than the spirals and very shallow, excepting directly in front 

 of the suture; suture impressed; aperture more than half the entire 

 length of the shell, lenticular in outline and produced anteriorly into 

 a comparatively long canal; outer lip marked internally by 10 or 12 

 regularly spaced Urate denticles; columella reinforced with two 

 rather strong oblique folds a little less than half way between the 

 base of the body and the anterior extremity of the aperture and a 

 less prominent marginal fold and occasionally a fourth feeble plication 



3 Stoliczka, F., Cretaceous Eauna of South India, Geol. Surv. India, p. 166. 

 PI. XII, 1867. 



4 Adams, H. and A., Genera of Recent Mollusca, 1855, vol. I, p. 278. 



