596 UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



Fig. 84. 



Fig. 85. 



HELICIDiE. 

 Genus HELIX, Linn, (see page 549). 

 Helix? veterna, M. & H. 



Plate 42, figs. 8, a, b. 

 HvUx veterna, Meek and Hayden (18G1), Proceed. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliilad., XIII, 447. 



Shell thiii, above medium size, 



ovate-subglobosc ; volutions five and a 



half, convex, and increasing rather 



rapidly in size, the last one being 



large, ventricose, and forming about 



three-fifths the entire length, with its 



greatest convexity below the middle, 

 Helix ? veterna. 

 r, . , „ . . , , , rounded on the outer side, and some- 



Cuts ot casts, giveu to show more clearly some 



characters not well represented in the figures what obliquely produced beloVV ; Spire 

 on the plate. 



Fig. 84. A view of an internal cast, showing aper- depressed-; umbilicus small or closed ; 



ture ; the dotted line indicating the reflexed , i; t - , i t .1 , 



' ., .. s suture < list met , out apparently not verv 



part o( the lip. ' t •> 



Fig. 85. An opposite view of aamo. deep; aperture ovate, rounded below 



and more or less angular above; surface marked by rather strong, very 

 oblique marks of growth ; lip appearing, judging from internal casts, some- 

 what reflexed below. 



Height, 1.24 inches; breadth, 1.05 inches; height of aperture, 0.75 

 inch; breadth of same, 0.57 inch ; slopes of spire very convex, with a diver- 

 gence of 85° to 90°. 



I am in considerable doubt in regard to the affinities of this species, 

 which is only known in the condition of internal casts, with some fragments of 

 the shell attached. These casts certainly present very much the appearance 

 of having the lip shortly reflexed below, and the last turn a little declining 

 at the aperture above. These characters, and the apparently distinct, regu- 

 lar, thread-like stria; of growth, seen on some fragments of the shell, led to 

 the conclusion, when it was first studied, that it might belong to some of the 

 very elevated types of the genus Helix, as understood in its most compre- 

 hensive signification. In this case, however, it would seem to belong to a 

 section or group differing from any of the existing American forms ; and, 

 from this fact, as well as from the outline of its aperture, the elevation of 

 the spir<\ and downward extension of tin 1 body-volution, 1 am still far from 



