260 BULLETIN OF THE 



Siliquaria squamata Blainvillb. 



Siliquaria squamata Blainv., Diet. Sci. Nat., XLIX. p. 213; Morch, Malak. Blatt., 

 XXIV. p. 110, 1877. 



Habitat. Off Havana, in 80-163 fms.; Barbados, 100 fms.; Stations 72 and 

 292, at Barbados, in 76 and 56 fms. ; Station 127, off Santa Cruz, in 38 fms.; 

 and Station 203, near Martinique, in 76 fms. 



These mollusks are said to live in sponges, but those above noted certainly 

 showed no signs of such a habitat. Only one specimen showed any signs of an- 

 nulation along the slit, and in that the appearance was confined to the part of 

 the slit near the apex, which had long been closed. The shell in perfect con- 

 dition should have nine squamous carina?, the scales being vaulted or folded 

 into tubes. The most perfect spires I have seen showed no sign of a regularly 

 spiral nucleus. Some of the deep-water specimens are white and striated, the 

 6cales nearly obsolete, and the shell extremely thin ; but the ordinary form is 

 pale brown, darker along the edges of the slit, which always opens downward. 

 The soft parts had disappeared from all the specimens I have seen. 



Siliquaria modesta Dall. 



Plate XXVI. Fig. 4. 



Siliquaria modesta Dall, Bull. M. C. Z., IX. p. 39, 1881. Agassiz, Three Cruises 

 of the Blake, II. p. 71, fig. 296, 1888. 



Habitat. Off Havana, 80-150 fms.; Station 2, 805 fms.; Station 9, 125 

 fms.; Station 20, 220 fms. ; Stations 132 and 136, near Santa Cruz, 115 to 508 

 fms.; Station 177, off Dominica, in 118 fms.; Station 206, near Martinique, in 

 170 fms.; Station 231, off St. Vincent, in 95 fms.; Station 241, in 163 fms., 

 near Curacoa; Station 248, off Grenada, in 161 fms. ; Station 276, at Barbados, 

 94-100 fms. ; Gulf of Mexico, in 163-169 fms., mud, U. S. Fish Commission. 

 Total range, 94-805 fms., mud, sand, or coral bottom, with a bottom tempera- 

 ture of 40° to 65° F. 



This species is always small and white, has only incremental sculpture, has 

 the slit usually annulated except at the anterior extremity, and shows no sign 

 of a regularly formed spiral nucleus. 



Genus VERMICULARIA Lamarck. 



Vermicularia Lam., Prodr., p. 78, 1799 ; Systeme des An. s. Vert., p. 97, 1801. 



The genus Vermetus of Adanson, not being proposed in Linnean nomencla- 

 ture, would have no claims to be retained had it not been emended and adopted 

 by other naturalists. If we are to adopt names proposed by naturalists who 

 did not use binomial nomenclature, there are other names for these shells pro- 



