MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 155 



mammillate tips seen normally in many Volutes. Lon. of shell (largest adult), 

 69.0; of last whorl, 55.0; of aperture, 45.0; max. diameter of shell, 25.0 mm. 

 Habitat. U. S. Fish Commission Station 2316, off Key West, in 50 fms., 

 coral, a unique spotted fragment ; Station 2415, off Georgia, in 440 fms., sand; 

 Station 2314, off South Carolina, lat. 32° 43', lon. 77° 51', in 159 fms., coarse 

 sand, bottom temperature 47°.4 F. ; Stations 2624 and 2625, seventy-five 

 miles S. by E. ^ E. from Cape Fear, North Carolina, in 258 and 247 fms., gray 

 sand, bottom temperature 46°.0 F. ; also at Stations 2659 and 2661, off Cape 

 Canaveral, Florida, in 509 and 455 fms., bottom temperature 45°.2 and 45°.5 ; 

 Station 2665, off St. Augustine, in 263 fms., sand, temperature 45°.2 ; and Sta- 

 tion 2668, off Fernandina, in 270 fms., sand, temperature 48°.3 F. (living). 



This species is the only one of the group, except V. vexillum,which. has a 

 normal color pattern of unmodified spiral bands. Out of twelve specimens 

 seen, only one had the bands broken into squarish distant spots. Its surface, 

 in some specimens, shows a very thin chalky layer, but it does not seem to be 

 subject to erosion. Though a comparatively small species, it offers in its color- 

 ation an agreeable variety from the brown spotted pattern presented by the 

 others, and, with the exception of V. Stearnsii which outrivals all others, is 

 one of the most northern species of the genus. It is named in honor of the 

 late Dr. A. A. Gould, author of the Report on the Shells of the Wilkes Ex- 

 ploring Expedition. 



This species is entirely without trace of an operculum, opercular gland, or 

 pad. To better make comparisons I took the oportunity of examining the 

 corresponding soft parts of Scaphella Stearnsii Dall, from Alaska, in lat. 55° N., 

 lon. 160° W. Gr. 



In S. Stearnsii there was a small but distinct opercular pad, but with no 

 operculum on it. I should not be surprised if at some future time specimens 

 of this species were found with a small operculum. The surface of the foot in 

 S. Stearnsii is coarsely granulous, whitish with spots and streaks of vermilion. 

 The color gland produced an abundance of a beautifully pure blue secretion. 

 In Aurinia Gouldiana the surface of the foot is velvety, smooth with very 

 fine granulations, white, with shades of olive tipping the stronger granulations. 

 The sole of the foot in Stearnsii (as contracted in alcohol) showed a spongy 

 layer with reticulated structure, evidently very distensible, the front edge of the 

 foot was double, the groove not deep, and the front edge seemed to show no 

 tendency to indentation in the median line, or lobulation at the anterior cor- 

 ners ; Gouldiana seemed to be somewhat indented, otherwise the foot did not 

 differ from Stearnsii except that the spongy sole was of finer texture. In both, 

 in retracting it into the shell, the foot was folded longitudinally. In Gouldiana 

 the secretion of the color gland is pale violet and scanty. There are two gills 

 in both species, the lower or outer (left hand) one the smaller. In Gouldiana 

 the outer gill is a blackish olive-color, the other one whitish like the body. 

 The former doubtless performs the function of an osphradium, but I question 

 whether it has not also something of a respiratory function. In Stearnsii the 

 gills seemed coarser and the lamellae proportionally less numerous. The 



