PLEUROTOMA. 385 



slope which surmounts the last whorl : inner lip as in the pre- 

 ceding species: pillar flexuous. L. 0*55. B. 0*2. 



Var. 1. abbreviata. Dwarfed, of the usual colour. 



Var. 2. lactea. Also dwarfed, white or yellowish-white. 



Yar. 3. elongata. Body pale yellowish-white or whitish, 

 marked with purplish-brown or flake-white spots of different 

 sizes, which appear opaque when the animal is examined as a 

 transparent object : pallial tube cylindrical, long and extensile: 

 head semicircular, very small: tentacles short, cylindrical, and 

 (without the eye-stalks) slender ; the free extremities are re- 

 markably short and finger-like, with rounded tips : eyes pro- 

 minent, on nearly oval bulbs at the top of long and thick stalks 

 which are conjoined with the tentacles, on their outer side (like 

 a spliced rope), and extend from two-thirds to three-fourths 

 of their length : foot very long and flexible, rounded in front, 

 with short triangular or ear-shaped corners, narrower in the 

 middle, and bilobed or obliquely truncated behind : verge falci- 

 form, situate behind the right-hand tentacle. Shell larger, 

 and having the spire more elongated, of a thinner and more 

 delicate texture : sculpture finer and smoother : colour yel- 

 lowish-white with the interstices of the ribs purplish-red, 

 sometimes wholly milk-white. L. 0-75. 



Habitat : Common in sand on all the coasts of the 

 south of England, Wales, and Ireland, from low-water 

 mark of spring tides to the depth of a few fathoms ; 

 Scarborough (Bean) ; Coldingham Bay, Berwickshire 

 (Maclaren^flfe Johnston); Clyde district (Smith); Lam- 

 lash (Landsborough); Moray Firth (Macdonald) . Var. 1 . 

 Coralline zone at Exmouth (Clark); Falmouth and co. 

 Galway (Barlee) ; Whitburn (Alder). Var. 2. Aber- 

 deenshire (Dawson). Var. 3. Deep water, Guernsey 

 (Hanley and J. G. J.) ; Plymouth (Jordan) ; Exmouth 

 (Clark); Arran Isle, co. Galway (Barlee); Hebrides and 

 Shetland, in 30-90 f. (Barlee and J. G. J.). I am by 

 no means certain that this last variety may not be 

 specifically distinct ; but I prefer reducing to increasing 

 the number of species, unless some valid and persistent 



VOL. iv. s 



