MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 307 



Since the above was written M. E. de Boury has undertaken the laudable 

 project of monographing the Scalidce on a scale and in a manner which leave 

 nothing but the speedy completion of the work to be desired. I therefore re- 

 sign with pleasure the discussion of the various groups into which the family 

 may be divided, and which I had partially carried out before M. de Boury's 

 project was made known to me. I do this the more readily, as I am convinced 

 the task is one of no little difficulty, and well worthy of special research. 



The Antillean species of Scala number some forty or fifty, of which, so far 

 as known, but few ascend the eastern coast of the United States northward 

 from the Floridian peninsula except in deep water. In working up the Blake 

 species, notes were made in regard to several points connected with the littoral 

 fauna, some of which seem worthy of record. 



Scala lineata Sat. 



Scala lineata, Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., II. p. 242, 1822. Not of Binney's 

 Gould, p. 312, fig. 580, = S. Sayana Dall. 



It appears that Kiener has fallen into some confusion in regard to this very 

 characteristic species; but as I have no means of referring to Kiener's work, 

 I am unable to clear it up. A sketch by Lieut. Kurtz, among Stimpson's 

 MSS., shows that the animal has a short foot, rounded, like the small end of 

 an egg, behind; its anterior edge strongly convexly arcuated forward, with the 

 anterior angles projecting in an auriculate manner. The tentacles are two 

 thirds as long as the foot, and very slender, while the median line of the head 

 is not indented. 



This species is found in the Caloosahatchie Pliocene of Florida. A curious 

 error is contained in Mr. Binney's edition of Dr. Gould's Report on the Inver- 

 tebrata of Massachusetts, p. 312, where what appears to be Say's S. clathrus 

 (= Sayana Dall) is figured for S. lineata Say, a totally .different species with 

 irregular varices, some much larger than others, and a very sharply cut basal 

 disk bordered by a purple line referred to by Say in his description. The 

 description in Binney refers to the genuine S. lineata; it was written by 

 Dr. Gould, but the figure does not represent that species. This error has been 

 copied with the figure into the Fish Commission Report for 1871-72, in Prof. 

 Verrill's article on the Invertebrates of Vineyard Sound (p. 660, pi. xxi. 

 fig. 123). 



Scala (Acirsa) costulata Migfiels. 



Turritella costulata Mighels, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., I. p. 50, Nov., 1841. 



This species has been generally known as Acirsa borealis Beck, but, as 

 Prof. Verrill has already indicated (Proc U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, p. 332, Sept., 



