50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 89 



Genus HALIOTIS Linnaeus 



HALIOTIS SORENSENI, new species 



Plate 6 



Shell large, thin, the exterior brownish red, decidedly inflated, spire 

 well elevated. Between the line of strongly elevated craterlike 

 siphonal perforations, of which the last four or five are open, and the 

 edge of the shell the upper three-fourths is gently rounded, while the 

 out^r quarter flares to a considerable expansion, which produces a 

 decided, concave line at the inner edge of the outer fourth of this 

 part of the shell. The outer surface is marked by more or less reg- 

 ular, broad, low, axial ridges, which bear irregularly developed, not 

 strongly pronounced, nodules. The outside is further provided with 

 numerous closely placed, slender, spiral cords that vary materially in 

 strength and with numerous closely spaced, incremental lines that 

 almost equal the spiral cords in strength. In addition to this sculp- 

 ture, broad, low, elevated, axial areas, which are feebly nodulose, 

 alternate with depressed zones. The interior of the shell is iridescent 

 with a pinkish pearly hue prevailing, and bright rosy tints mark the 

 outer half, while within, scattered greenish areas of irregular size 

 and distribution are present. The muscle scar, usually strongly 

 marked in Haliotis^ is here but feebly impressed, in which character 

 it resembles the other Californian deep-water species, Haliotis assim- 

 ilis. It resembles that form also in the excavated inward sloping of 

 the expanded dextral margin of the aperture and the sealing-wax- 

 colored edging of the peristome, but differs materially in size and in 

 the color of the interior. 



The type, U.S.N.M. No. 535688, resting upon the aperture, yields 

 the following measurements : Greater length, 218 mm. ; greater diam- 

 eter, 168 mm. ; height, 81 mm. It weighs 448 grams. 



Two paratypes in Mr. Sorensen's collection yield the following 

 measurements, respectively: Greater length, 200, 210 mm.; greater 

 diameter, 149, 172 mm.; greater height, 79, 65 mm.; weight, 370, 465 

 grams. Of these specimens Mr. Sorensen writes : "They were found 

 slightly south of Point Conception, Calif., by a commercial abalone 

 diver, in 10 fathoms depth. After one was found, diligent search 

 for 2 weeks succeeded in finding only three more. No other diver 

 found any; the time was about September 15, 1939." A subsequent 

 letter states: "The animal was colored yellowish with dark specks, 

 and the meat was quite tender." 



Recently, on his way to Mexico, Mr. Sorensen found a curio dealer 

 near San Diego who had secured a number of what he called the pink 

 abalone from a man who had brought Mexican shells north to him. 



