398 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Shell. — Ovate, turreted, conical, strong, but not heavy, with a long pillar, high narrow 

 varices, and a superior row of pointed circular-based tubercles, of a dead ruddyish yellow 

 with a few chestnut spots and suffused but paler patches. Sculpture : Longitudinals — 

 there are high, narrow, alternate varices, which on the earlier whorls follow continuously, 

 but rather lag behind their true place ; on the body-whorl they are dislocated by being 

 thrown considerably in front of it ; the last one does not extend to the snout ; there are 

 minute, not very continuous, uneven, longitudinal threads over the whole surface. 

 Spirals — the last whorl, about a third of its height below the suture, is carinated at its 

 periphery by a row of sharp prominent distant round-based tubercles, which are hardly 

 continuous nor set on a cord ; on the spire this row nearly bisects the whorls, but is a 

 little inferior ; between this row and the suture there are placed alternately 3 fine 

 tubercled threads and 2 tubercled cords, of which latter the upper is the stronger ; its 

 tubercles and those of the thread above it tend to coalesce at the suture ; less thau half- 

 way below the periphery there is a row of smaller, less prominent, more numerous, pointed 

 tubercles set on a cord ; half-way between these two rows is a cord with close-set rounded 

 tubercles having two threads below it and a thread and a fine tubercled cord above it, 

 which last lies on the bases of the tubercles forming the peripheral carination. On the 

 base are four tubercled cords, the first and second of which have each a fine tubercled 

 thread above them, and the fourth a similar thread below it defining the base of the pillar ; 

 on the pillar there are six cords more or less tubercled, of which three are above, two are 

 on the under side, and one at the edge : there is little difference in the strength or 

 arrangement of the spiral cords or tubercles above or below the periphery ; they all rise 

 into very considerable prominence and sharpness iu crossing the varices. The whole shell 

 is covered by minute threads, which form knots where they cross the rather weaker 

 longitudinal threads, giving the surface somewhat of the texture of a fine file. Colour 

 dead white, with a superficial ruddy-yellow tinge, which has a few lines and patches of 

 deeper hue, and a few spots of chestnut. Epidermis : only a few traces of a very thin 

 smooth membranaceous skiu remain. Spire high, narrow, and small, conical, somewhat 

 scalar from the infrasutural shoulder, whose angularity breaks the conical outline. Apex 

 consists of three polished, turbinated, ochraceous whorls, whose tip is immersed. Whorls 

 8 to 9 in all, with a sloping flat shoulder, a carinated periphery, and a slight straight 

 contraction from this point to the suture ; the rounded base contracts quickly and bear3 

 a long, prominent, bent and twisted pillar, which is lost on the right side by 

 the outward sweep of the base, which advances very far forward, but leaves a short, 

 square, projecting snout. Suture distinct and deeply impressed, on the upper whorls 

 slightly channelled. Mouth oval ; the upper canal is distinct, but neither long, wide, 

 nor deep ; the lower canal is open and moderate in size ; but the whole snout is rather 

 exceptionally square and prominent. Outer lip somewhat angular in its course, thin, 

 prominent beyond the varix, patulous on its inner face, but externally scarcely at all 



