MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 207 



why it should not be retained, in the absence of any fully established name of 

 other date. It is somewhat uncertain in the absence of definite information 

 as to the nucleus of A. anceps, its operculum, dentition, and soft parts, to know 

 whether it belongs to the group of which Murex scalarioides would form a 

 type. But A. anceps presents so many analogies with A. hastula, especially as 

 to form and quality of surface, while A. hastula has the nucleus and surface 

 identical with and is otherwise so closely like certain forms of A.? scalarioides, 

 that I do not think it judicious to separate them. 



Aspella anceps Lamarck. 



Ranella anceps Lamarck, An. s. Vert., VII. p. 154, 1822. 



Ranella (Aspella) anceps Morch, Malak. Blatt, XXIV. p. 24, 1877. 



Ranella pyramidalis Broderip, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 194 ; Sowerby, Conch. 111. Ranella, 



fig. 2. 

 Ranella producta Pease, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 397. 



Habitat. St. Thomas, Riis and Morch. West Indies, Tryon. 



This species has been reported several times from the West Indies. It is 

 doubtful, however, whether the shell referred to is really T. anceps or the fol- 

 lowing species. At least there is no reason why it should not be found in the 

 Antilles, since I have seen specimens from Ceylon, Mauritius, Panama, Aca- 

 pulco, and the Sandwich Islands. 



The identity of Pease's shell with the ordinary anceps is determined from a 

 specimen received from the author. 



This shell is almost always found in collections dead and worn, with the 

 secondary varices worn down, the calcareous layer which should clothe the 

 surface eroded, and the nucleus lost. I have never been able to examine a 

 perfectly fresh specimen. I have no doubt, however, of its distinctness from 

 the next species. 



Aspella hastula Reeve. 

 Ranella hastula Reeve, Conch. Icon. Ranella, fig. 42, 1844. 



Habitat. China Seas, Stimpson. Station 2617, in 14 fms., sand, twenty- 

 five miles S. E. from Cape Fear, North Carolina, U. S. Fish Commission. 



This curious little species is of a chestnut-brown under the spongy calcareous 

 layer. It has 3-5 varices to the whorl; A. anceps, always six. The revolving 

 lines are less elevated than "is usual with A. anceps, and never nodulated, as is 

 often the case with the latter. The nucleus is exactly that of the following 

 species, and the amount of compression varies very greatly, some specimens 

 showing almost none. 



