MARGARITA. 



281 



smooth spiral lines fit uniform distances, and for the most part 

 alternately larger and smaller; base consideral)ly flattened, of a 

 lighter color, and with finer striae ; umbilicus broad, fun- 

 nel-shaped, distinctly bounded l)y a spiral line, and par- 

 tially covered by the reflected inner lij) ; aperture nearly 

 circular, very oblique ; lip sharp, slightly jagged ; throat 

 pearly, with greenish and golden reflections; operculum 

 thin, horny, multi-spiral. Height, three tenths of an inch ; base, 

 four tenths of an inch. 



Found in great numl)crs in the stomachs of fishes, and also alive 

 on Phillips's Beach. Mr. Sowcrby received it from the Arctic Ocean. 

 Halifax ( TFiV/ii^) ; Eastport ( Ooo;;e/-) ; Cape Cod, northward {Stiinp- 



son). 



This beautiful shell cannot he mistaken for any other species on 

 the American Atlantic coast. Its color, its regular spiral lines, un- 

 dulated sutural region, and pearly aperture render it a very beauti- 

 ful shell, having more of the aspect of a tropical than of a northern 

 shell. Mr. Sowerby's description and figure were published in the 

 same month in which Mr. (Jouthouy read his description to the 

 Boston Society of Natural History ; and we must, therefore, allow 

 his name the right of priority. 



There is considerable variety in the coloring; the freshest young 

 shells are of a rose-red, and of a more depressed form ; the majority 

 are of a Ijrownish-red ; the undulations are seldom, but sometimes 

 wanting. 



Margarita lielicina. 



Fig. 173*. 



Shell orbicular, rlepresscd, smooth and shining, translucent, of a light horn 

 color, with very fine revolving lines on the Ijase ; aperture circular. 



Margarita arctlrn, Leach, in Ross's Voyage of Discovery, 8vo. 1819 ; Appendix. — fiow- 

 ERBY, Mulafol. and Conchol. Mai^. part i. 2.5 ; Concliol. Ilinst. {Marfjarhu), iig. 6.— 

 Gould, Inv. 1st cd. 255, fig. 173*. — De Kay, N. Y. Moll. 108, pi. 6, fig. 107. 



Mari/arita helicoides, Beck, MS. 



Turho inflatus, Totten, Sillim. Journ. xxvi. 3G8, figs. 5, a, h, c. 



Pahidina inflata, Menke. 



Tmho helicinus, O. Faduicius. 



Margarita lielicina, Stimpson, Check Lists, 4. 



Shell small, orlucular, depressed, thin, and translucent, smooth 

 and shining, of a light yellowish horn color or light olive ; whorls 

 four or five, very convex, the last very large and tumid, a little flat- 



