A REVIEW OF THE VOLUTIDAE 



61 



Alt. 36.5 nm. 



Hab. Dredged by the U.S. Pish Commission 

 steamer Albatross off the southwest 

 coast of Chile, at station 2791, south 

 latitude 58° 08' and west longitude 75° 

 53', in 677 fathoms, mud, bottom tempera- 

 ture 57.9° Pahr. (Dall). 



Holotype in the United States National Mu- 

 seum, number 97>128. 



Shell (not fully adult) small, 

 elongated, fusiform; color dark with pale 

 band in front of suture; nucleus small; 

 whorls six, probably more when adult; sculp- 

 ture of rounded grooves; interspaces flat- 

 tened, narrow but wider than grooves; lines 

 of growth fine and regular; pillar thin, 

 sharp and nearly straight; canal wide; sin- 

 gle prominent, fine sharp plait just behind 

 edge of pillar, also two smaller subequal 

 plaits. For more detailed description ref- 

 erence should be made to Ball's paper. 



But a single specimen was obtained. 

 The nucleus was eroded so that its exact 

 character remains in doubt. 



This unique shell belongs to a 

 group of which the other species appear to 

 be extinct: A. triplicata Sowerby, A. 

 domeykoana Phllippi and A. iracilior Iher- 

 Ing (new name for Valuta iracllts Phllippi, 

 1887, not of Lea, 1833); and perhaps also 

 valuta D'Orblinyana Phllippi. It is dis- 

 tinctly a localized group proper to the 

 south coast of South America, both recent 

 and fossil. 



Dall stated that the name iracllts 

 being several times preoccupied, the pres- 

 ent name philippiana may possibly also be 

 applied to the tertiary fossil (iracilis) , 

 if and when that species is proved to be 

 Identical with the present species. 



Genus TRACTOLIRA Dall 1895 



Tractolira Dall, 1895, Proc. U.S.N.M. 18, 

 number 1034, p. 12. 



Genotype: Tractolira sparta Dall. 



Range: Gulf of Panama, northward to 

 Acapulco, Mexico. 



.Another degnerate, abyssal genus. 



The radula is marked by the same tusk-like 

 cusps, which occur In the section Mlomelon. 

 Dall considered Valuta alta Sower- 

 by, a species in the Chilean tertlarles as 

 a normal relative. 



Tractolira sparta Dall 1895 

 (Plate 26, Figure I78) 



Tractolira sparta Dall, Proc. U.S.N.M., I8, 

 number 1034, p. 13, 1895- Smith, Misc. 

 Coll., vol. 48, part 3, p. 366, I907. 



Mt. 60; of last whorl 43; of aperture, 28; 

 diam. I9 ram. 



Hab. Gulf of Panama to latitude of Acapul- 

 co, Mexico, 1672-2232 fathoms. 



Shell elongate, slender, with a 

 greenish or ashy adherent epidermis (more 

 or less eroded near the apex in all the 

 specimens); about six whorls; nucleus ap- 

 parently as in Scaphella {Amoria), large, 

 with an apical spur; whorls drawn out, 

 rounded, with a distinct suture, the upper 

 whorls at first smooth, then with Irregular 

 partly obsolete, transverse wrinkles, some 

 of which cross the whorl, but which are too 

 Irregular to call ribs; surface everywhere 

 sculptured with numerous, even, fine, 

 flattlsh spiral threads, with equal or 

 slightly wide interspaces, and with well 

 marked, but not regular lines of growth; 

 aperture sub-ovate, rather wide In front, 

 the outer lip simple and hardly thickened; 

 the throat white, a thin wash of callus on 

 the body, the pillar thin, pervious, short; 

 the canal short and wide, with hardly any 

 siphonal fasciole; operculum absent. 



Genus ZIDONA H. and A. Adams I853 



Zidana H. and A. Adams, 1853, Genera of 

 Rec. Moll., vol. 1, p. I6I; 2, p. 6I8, 

 1858. Fischer: Man. de Conch., p. 605, 

 1883. Cossman: Essais Pal. Comp., 3, 

 p. 104, 1899. 



Volutella d'Orblgny: Voyage of the Ameri- 

 can Mer, 422, l84l; V . aniulata Swain- 

 son, sole ex., not Volutella Perry, I8II, 

 nor Swainson I83O. 



Genotype: V. aniulata Swainson. 



