222 American Seashelh 



whorl, which are made slightly uneven by numerous very fine spiral threads. 

 Color translucent-cream with sparse spottings of brown. Common under 

 rocks between tide marks. 



Genus Nitidella Swainson 1840 

 Nitidella ocellata Gmelin White-spotted Dove-shell 



Plate 2 5hh 



Lower Florida Keys and the West Indies. 



% inch in length, smooth, characteristically dark black-brown with nu- 

 merous small white dots which may be quite large just below the suture. 

 Outer lip thick, with 5 or 6 small whitish teeth. Aperture short, narrow, 

 purplish brown within. When beachworn, the color is reddish or yellowish 

 brown. Common under rocks at low tide. Formerly known as cribraria 

 Lamarck. 



Nitidella mtidula Sowerby Glossy Dove-shell 



Plate 25dd 



Southeast Florida and the West Indies. 



/4 inch in length, characterized by the long aperture (% that of the 

 entire shell) and by the very glossy shell. Color whitish with heavy mot- 

 tlings of light-yellow to mauve-brown. Outer lip with about a dozen small 

 teeth. Common in the West Indies on rocks at low tide. 



Nitidella gouldi Carpenter Gould's Dove-shell 



Plate 20m 



Alaska to San Diego, California. 



H inch in length, 7 whorls are smoothish and slightly convex. Spire 

 almost flat-sided. Base of shell on exterior of canal with about 9 fine, incised 

 spiral lines. Bottom of white columella with a single, low plait. Outer lip 

 simple, sharp and often reinforced within by 4 or 5 weak pustules. Shell 

 whitish with faint brown maculations, covered with a yellowish-gray peri- 

 ostracum. Fairly common from just ofl"shore to 300 fathoms. 



Nitidella carinata Sowerby Carinate Dove-shell 



San Francisco to Lower California. 



H inch in length, glossy, brightly variegated with orange, yellow, white 

 and brown. Shoulder of last whorl usually strongly swollen. Exterior of 

 canal with about a dozen spiral, incised lines. Both ends of the aperture are 

 stained dark-brown. Outer lip thickened, crooked, and with about a dozen 

 small spiral threads or teeth inside. Fairly common in shallow water. N. 



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