TWO REMARKABLE NEW SPECIES OF MARINE SHELLS 

 FROM FLORIDA 



By PAUL BARTSCH 



Curator, Division of Mollusks and Cenozoic Invertebrates, 

 U. S. National Museum 



(With One Plate) 



There were recently brought to the attention of the United States 

 National Museum, among other specimens, two remarkable new 

 species of marine mollusks collected near Tarpon Springs, Fla., by 

 Sozon Vatikiotis, a deep-sea diver. The types of these species were 

 presented to the Museum by Mrs. Helen Vatikiotis, wife of their 

 discoverer. 



CONUS SOZONI, n. sp. 

 Plate I, figs. 1-3 



Shell large and rather strong with the spire broadly conic and about 

 one-fourth the height of the total height of the shell. The succeeding 

 turns fall very slightly below the shoulder of the whorls and produce 

 a feeble steplike effect on the spire. The exposed portion of the turns 

 on the spire slopes gently and is marked by very fine obscure wrinkle- 

 like spiral lirations and protractively curved incremental lines. From 

 the shoulder to the tip of the base the shell is almost straight, having 

 a slight bulge a little below the middle, and a broad feeble contrac- 

 tion anterior and posterior to this, which really renders the outline 

 of the whorl slightly sinuous. The sculpture of this part of the shell 

 consists of incremental lines of varying strength and microscopic 

 spiral lirations, except on the basal half of the columella, which is 

 marked by a dozen rather deep grooves that are distantly spaced 

 posteriorly and more closely approximated anteriorly. Anteriorly they 

 are separated by raised spiral ridges about as wide as the grooves, while 

 posteriorly the space between the grooves becomes much wider, the 

 last one being about five times as wide as the groove. Aperture nor- 

 mal, that is, we have the inner and outer lip practically parallel with 

 a deep sinus at the posterior angle and a channel anteriorly. The 

 color pattern of this cone is strikingly beautiful. The spire has a 

 yellowish orange base with stretches of flesh color as a background. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 98, No. 1 



