124 BULLETIN OF THE 



Leda jamaicensis D'Orbignt. 



Leda jamaicensis D'Orbigny, Sagra, Moll. Cub., II. p. 263, PL XXIV. figs. 30-32 



(1846). 

 Leda unca Gould, Proc. B. S. Nat. Hist., VIII. p. 282, 1862; Verrill, Proc. U. S. 



Nat. Mus., Jan. 1881, p. 401. 

 1. Leda {Lembulus) lamell icostata Segnenza, Studi form, plioc. 1877; Nuculidi terz., 



p. 1173, Tav. II. figs. 10 a-c. 



Sand Key, 80 fms. ; off Sombrero, 54 and 72 fms. ; Yucatan Strait, 640 fms. ; 

 Jamaica, Santo Domingo (D'Orbigny); North Carolina (Gould) ; off Southern 

 New England, 85-155 fms. (Verrill). 



Specimens obtained as above appear to be referable to D'Orbigny's species. 

 As between Northern and West Indian specimens of this shell the only dift'er- 

 ences are those of texture, as usual in shells having such a distribution. There 

 is little doubt that of the minute shells described by Seguenza and Jeffreys a 

 certain proportion are merely the young of larger forms, and the slight differ- 

 ences of contour and number of teeth do not necessarily indicate equal differ- 

 ences in the adult state. The amount of sectional, subgeneric, generic, and 

 subfamily divisions instituted by some authors in this group seems to me 

 largely in excess of the needs of science and of valid characters in the creatures 

 themselves. 



Leda messanensis Seguenza. 



Leda acuminata Jeffreys, An. Mag. Nat. Hist., p. 69, July, 1870. 



Leda (Jimonia) acuminata Seguenza, Nuc. terz., p. 1175, Tav. III. figs. 15 a-e. (Not 



L. acuminata Von Buch, nor of Eichwald.) 

 Leda messanensis Seguenza, MSS. (not Neilo messanensis S. ), loc. cit., supra. 



Jeffreys, P. Z. S., June 17, 1879, p. 576, 1880. 



Station 19, 310 fms. ; Station 20, 220 fms. ; off Cape San Antonio, 1002 fms. ; 

 Barbados, 100 fms. ; Sigsbee, off Havana, 450 fms. 



Chiefly distinguished by the strength of its sculpture and its greater inflation 

 from the young of the preceding, but is placed by Seguenza in a different sub- 

 genus or section. 



Leda Jefireysi Hidalgo. 



Leda lata Jeffreys, An. Mag. Nat. Hist, Nov. 1876, p. 431; not of Hinds, Voy. 



Sulph., 1845. 

 Leda Jeffreysi Hidalgo, Moll. Hisp. etc. Jeffreys, P. Z. S., 1879, p. 579, PI. XLVI. 



fig. 2. 



Station 33, 1568 fma. 



The shell which I refer to the above species is more quadrangiikr than Jef- 

 freys' figure, the longer end descending more obliquely from the beak and 

 therefore more pointed ; a much larger proportion of the shell is behind the 



