MENESTHO. 833 



Ocsiiis MENESTHO, Moller. 1842. 



Shell elongated, of numerous whorls ; aperture short, ovate, en- 

 tire in front ; lip sharp, disunited behind ; pillar without a fold. 



Menestlio albula. 



Fig. 174. 



Shell turreted, dingy-white ; whorls eight, nearly flat, with numerous fine re- 

 volving lines; upper whorls tapering rapidly; suture distinct. 



Pijramis slrialula, CouTHOUY, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. ii. 101, pi. 1, fig. 6. — Gould, 



Inv. 1st cd. 269, fig. 174. — De Kay. N. Y. Moll. 114, pi. 8, fig. 169. 

 Menestho uRmla, Mollbk, Ind. Gr. 1842. — Stimpson, Check Lists, 5. 

 Maipstho siriata, Chenu, Man. i. 229, fig. 1.311. 

 Twho albulus, 0. Fabricius, Fauna Gr. 394. 



Shell elevated, obelisk-shaped, thick, bluish-white, usually having 

 a dead, unpolished appearance ; whorls seven to nine, nearly flat, 

 distinctly separated by the suture, a few of the upper ones 

 tapering rather suddenly to an acute point, thus giving it ^'°'^ " 

 an obelisk shape ; marked with obvious lines of growth, 

 sometimes approaching to varices, and with from twelve to 

 fifteen fine, regular revolving lines, diminishing in number 

 towards the apex ; aperture ovate, acute-angular behind ; m. nihii- 

 outer lip sharp and simple, without any sinus behind ; 

 slightly turned outwards at base, as it joins the regularly arched 

 pillar margin. Length, twelve twentieths of an incli ; breadth, 

 seven forty-sixths of an inch ; divergence, twenty-three degrees. 



First found by Mr. Couthouy in the stomachs of fishes caught off 

 Cape Ann. Several specimens have since been found, but it is by 

 no means common. Banks, very rare (^ Willis^ ; Halifax (swims') ; 

 fossil, Montreal (^Daivson). 



The characters of the aperture are like those of Ttirbonilla in- 

 terrvpta; but the exterior has a different character. Its aspect is 

 precisely that of a shell sent me as Monotigma^ Gray ; but I cannot 

 find the plait on the inner lip, from whence that genus derives its 

 name. 



Family VELUTINID^E, Gkat. 



Shell ear-shaped, the aperture much dilated, margins disunited 

 posteriorly ; operculum none. 



