98 



luirope and America. The shell of the recent species (,V. abyssi- 

 cola) differs so much from Swainson's type of the genus {V. 

 spirwsa, Lamk.) in its general form, cancellated structure, the 

 thickening of the outer lip, &c., that in a paper in " Trans- of 

 Wagner Free Institute;" vol- 3,, pp. 74, 75, Dr. Dall proposes to 

 remove it from the genus Volutilithes, and to place it with a groi'p 

 of fossil species which he separates under the name Volutocorbis, 

 taking for his type F. limopsis, Conrad. In the same paper he 

 describes and figures (Plate VI)- a new recent species of what he 

 considers a true Volutilithes, under the name V. PhiHppiana, Dall. 

 After comparing a number of fossil forms in the British Museum, 

 I haA^e come to the conclusion that there is not sufficient ground 

 for the separation, and that it is unnecessary. I think it better to 

 include under the common name Volutilithes all the fossil forms, 

 both the recent species and the third species hereafter described- 



The late Mr- Martin F. Woodward, whose recent death we all 

 deplore as a great loss to science, as well as to all who had the 

 privilege of knowing him as a friend, thus describes the soft 

 parts : — 



External characters — The head is slightly compressed dorso- 

 ventrally, and dixidcd anteriorly by a deep median cleft ; these two 

 anteriorly-placed head-lobes are intimately related to the opening 

 through which the introvert is protruded; at first sight they might 

 be thought to represent lips, but this is not the case, the true lips 

 being situated, with the mouth, at the extremity of the introvert- 

 Kach head-lobe is deeply grooved on its outer border, and the 

 inferior margins of these grooves meet ventrally behind the false 

 mouth in such a manner that these false lips form a V-shaped 

 thickening on the under side of the head. The itentacles are 

 stouty and related to the upper margins of the grooves in the 

 head-lobes. Behind each tentacle is a short but very stout eye- 

 stalk, bearing a prominent eye on its distal extremity. The foot 

 is very large, and probably capable of great expansion- There is 

 no operculum. The siphon is long and devoid of appendices. 

 The edge of the mantle is bordered by a single row of papilLx. 



The pallial complex is in most respects like that of Voluia ancilla 

 or of Ncpluncopsis- The gill and dark-coloured osphradium 

 l)eing identical in structure, and the anal, genital, and excretory 

 orifices are similar in po.^ition. The only diti'erence, however, is a 

 striking one, and is due to the entire absence of the characteristic 

 hypobranchial gland, a structure present in the majority of the 

 Rhachiglossa- 



The Alimentary Canal — The buccal mass and radula-sac form 

 a stout muscular mass, occupying the greater part of the intro- 

 vert- As in Volnta,- two pairs of pre-neural salivary glands are 

 present; one large, branched and whitish pair opens into the 

 oesophagus at its jtmction with the buccal mass, while the second 

 pair is tubular and yellowi.^]], and unites to form a fine duct, 



