110 OTINID.E. 



Some of the above characters are anomalous, al- 

 though they seem to connect this family with Melampus 

 on one side and Succinea on the other. The shell 

 resembles that of Velutina in shape ; but in that genus 

 the epidermis is thick and velvety, and the apex of the 

 spire is twisted outwards instead of inwards, and is 

 closely striated in a spiral direction. Lithotis rupicola 

 of Blanford, from Bombay Harbour, probably belongs 

 to the only genus of the present family, viz. the 



Genus OTI'NA* Gray. PL IV. f. 3. 



The natural position of this genus was first pointed 

 out by L. PfeifFer, who included it in the Auriculacea. 

 It had been previously placed by Gray, Woodward, and 

 other writers with Velutina, and by Forbes and Hanley 

 in the Pyramidellidee. Dr. Turton made a better guess 

 when he called it a Helix. 



Otina oTisf, Turton. 



Helix otis, Turt. Conch. Diet. p. 70. 0. otis, F. & H. iii. p. 321, pi. xcix. 

 f, 2, 3, and (animal) pi. 00. f. 4. 



Bodt almost clear white; when active it is not contain- 

 able within the shell, but when at rest it shrinks up : 

 mantle lining the inner edges of the shell : head furnished 

 with an expanded veil or hood, which is bilobed or divided in 

 front and broader than the anterior part of the foot ; it assists 

 the foot in crawling : mouth forming a narrow perpendicular 

 slit, through which the short and spinous odontophore is seen 

 in action : tentacles ear-shaped or triangular under water, 

 bulbous or tubercular in the air : eyes black and distinct, each 

 seated on the middle of a tentacle : foot truncated in front, 

 and rounded behind, slightly constricted in the middle, where 

 sometimes a crease appears : respiratory orifice small, placed 

 about halfway between the head and the extremity of the 

 foot. 



* Derived from the name of the species on which tins genus is founded, 

 t From, ovs, wros, an ear. 



