270 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



The specimen from which this description was taken was obtained in Ad- 

 miralty Inlet, Washington Territory, Oct., 1870. It was a female, and contained 

 a ftetug five feet long ; thus correcting the error of the whalers, who commonly 

 regard this small species as the young of the " finback," of the coast. The 

 skull has been deposited in the National Museum at Washington. 



This species is evidently congeneric with the Balmwpiera rostrata, of the B. 

 M. Catalogue of 1850; and, while changes in nomenclature (more recent than 

 those reported in the works of reference now accessible to me), may render it 

 necessary to change the generic appellation at some future day, the one now 

 used seems sufficient for purposes of description. In specific details, also, the 

 present species is nearly allied to the B. roslrata, as far as descriptions will ad- 

 mit of instituting a comparison. I have dedicated the species to Prof. George 

 Davidson, U. S. Coast Survey, and President of the Academy, as a testimony 

 of respect for his scientific attainments, no less than as a personal token of ap- 

 preciation of his efforts to assist in the advancement of the scientific interests 

 of this coast. 



A more detailed account of this animal and its habits, accompanied by illus- 

 trations, is reserved for a monograph on the cetaceans of this coast, which I 

 have long contemplated, and which is now on the point of publication. 



Mr. Dall exliibited a new species of Valuta from the Alaskan 

 Islands, and submitted the following : 



Descriptions of New Species of Mollusks from the Northwest 



Coast of America.* 



BY W. H. DALL, U. S. COAST SURVEY. 



Voluia {ScapkeUa) Stearnsii, Dall. Shell large, slender, spindle-shaped, mod- 

 erately thick. Color, livid purple, more or less obscured by an ashy-white 

 outer layer, more conspicuous near the sutures and on the callosity of the inner 

 lip. Exterior, smooth (but not polished) except for the strong lines of in- 

 crease. Sutures appressed ; siphonal fasciole strong. Nucleus small, white, 

 mammillated. ' Aperture more than half as long as the shell, white and livid 

 purple, with a dash of brighter purple at the posterior notch and on the an- 

 terior portion of the callus. Edge white, callus reflected, thick and strong, 

 with a chink behind the anterior portion. Canal twisted to the right, moder- 

 ately deep. Whorls 6-8 ; long. 4.13 in., lat. 1.G2 in., long, apert. 2. .59 in. ; 

 defl. 40^. Living, from stomach of cod, Shumagin Islands. Dead on beach : 

 Gull rocks Akutan Pass, and west side of Amaknak Island, Captain's Bay, 

 Unalashka. (Plate 1, fig. 1.) 



Nacella (?) rosea, Dall. Shell small, egg-ovate, of a deep rose color, extern- 

 ally smooth, except for very faint radiating ridges divaricating from the apex, 

 and for lines of growth. Margin entire ; apex minute, produced before the an- 



* Printed iu aelvauce, Oct. 8, 1872. 



