A NEW LAND SHELL PROM CALIFORNIA, W^ITH NOTE ON SELE- 

 NITES DURANTI, NEWCOMB. 



By WIL.L.IA71 G. MAZYCK. 



Selenites c^lata Mazyck. 



Shell small, depressed, brownish horn-color, with very coarse, rough, 

 crowded, sub-equidistant, irregular ribs, which are obsolete at the apex; 

 whorls 4, rounded, somewhat intlated below, gradually increasing, the 

 last not descending at the aperture; suture impressed; umbilicus wide, 

 clearly exhibiting all of the volutions; aperture almost circular, slightly 

 oblique; peristome simple, its ends approaching and joined by a very 

 thin, transparent, whitish callus, through which the ribs are distinctly 

 seen. 



Greater diameter 4™™ ; height if'"'". 



Santa Barbara, California, Dr. L. G. Yates. 



Hayward's, Alameda County, California, W. H. Dall, U. S. National 

 Museum. 



Selenites Duranti Newcomb. 



Helix Duranti Newc. : Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci., iii, 118, 1864. 

 Patula Duranti Tryou, Am. Jour. Couch., ii, 26:5, pi. iv, fig. 5:i, 1866. 

 Hyalina Duranti Binuey & Blaud, Ld. F.-W. Sh., i, 37, fig. 49, 1869. 

 Macrocyclia Duranti W. G. Binuey, T. M., v. 94, 188, Manual Am. L. Sh., 8."), 

 fig. 49, 1885. 



Newcomb's description of this little shell is as follows : 



" Shell depressed, discoidal, pale corneous, under the lens minutely 

 striated, opaque, broadly and perspectively umbilicated; whorls 4, the 

 last shelving but not descending (at the aperture) ; suture linear; aper- 

 ture rounded, lunate, lip sim^jle, the external and internal ai)i)roach- 

 ing. 



^''Habitat. — Santa Barbara Island." 



Try on repeats this description, adding the words " Spire not at all 

 eleratef]., ])erfectly plane above." His figure is very poor indeed, and 

 shows little more than simply the size of the shell. 



Mr. Bmuey's description, which is repeated in each of his works above 

 named, differs in this important particular: For Newcomb's " Under the 

 lens minutely striated," he substitutes the contradictory words "with 

 very coarse, rough striae." In a note written in answer to an inquiry ad- 

 dressed to him regarding this singular discrepancy, he says : " My 

 description and figure are fiom an individual, not from the species. 

 I am absolutely sure my specimen was one of the original find." His 

 figure, drawn by Morse, rather represents a comparatively smooth, semi- 

 transparent shell. 

 460 



