OF CONCHOLOGY. 153 



ON THE SYSTEMATIC POSITION OP BUCCINUM ALTILB 

 AND B. BSCHERI. 



BY THEODOKE GILL, M. D. 



While examining the collection of Tertiary fossils in the Muse- 

 um of the Smithsonian Institution, I was at a loss to appreciate 

 the affinities of the miocene Buccinum altilc or Tritia altilis of 

 Conrad. Further study of the species rendered it probable that 

 it represented the type of a genus hitherto unrecognized, and 

 that the Buccinum Escheri of Mayer, from a nearly contempora- 

 neous formation in France was congeneric with it ; the following 

 exposition of the characters of the genus are therefore submitted. 



Ptychosalpinx, Gill. 



Buccinum, sp. Conrad, Mayer. 

 Tritia, sp. Conrad. 



Etym. ITt'j^ i^'/^^) ^^^'^ ' gcD.ttcv^, quasi Buccinum. 



Type. — P. altilis. 



Shell ovate, buccinoid, with the whorls regu- 

 larly rounded andventricose; the spire moderate 

 (about as long as aperture ;) furnished with equal 

 revolving linear ridges, siphonal canal very 

 short, very obliquely twisted, and concurrent 

 with the siphonal fascicle; aperture rhombo- 

 ovate, oblong ; labrum entire, not sinuous, 

 smooth within ; columella inversely sigmoidal, concave near the 

 middle, with a very thin callous deposit, and with a revolving 

 marginal linear plait in front.* 



This genus is related to Buccinum, with which its species have 

 been confounded, but differs in too many respects to be properly 

 associated with B. undatum and its allies in a natural genus; it 



* It may not be superfluous to add that there is no posterior transverse 

 columellar fold. 



