VAGINULUS. 15 



GENUS VAGINULUS, FERUSSAC. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



ANIMAL. Body oblong oval when contracted, more 

 or less linear when extended ; mantle covering the whole 

 body : foot narrow, wrinkled transversely as if composed 

 of numerous rings ; head distinct, and capable of being 

 retracted under the mantle ; buccal mass with a jaw and 

 with papillae arranged around the mouth ; tentacles four, 

 unequal, contractile, but not fully retractile, the upper 

 ones long and slender, annulated, obtuse and oculiferous 

 at tip, the lower ones short and more or less branched at 

 tip. Pulmonary cavity on the right side, at about two- 

 fifths the length of the animal, and opening, by means of 

 a tube running along the side, at the posterior extremity, 

 between the mantle and the free point of the foot, in com- 

 pany with the anal opening. Organs of generation sep- 

 arate and distant, the male organ protruding at the base 

 of the right tentacle ; the female opening about the mid- 

 dle of the right side. Mucous pore none. 



SHELL. None. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. Has been found at a 

 single locality, namely, at Charlotte Harbor on the west 

 coast of Florida. It is a tropical genus, inhabiting the 

 West Indies, and according to D'Orbigny, nearly every 

 part of South America as far as 34 south, on the east 

 of the Andes, though its range is not so great on the 

 Pacific coast. It is also found in other tropical regions. 



