IIG NEPTUNEA. 



X. LURTDA, A. Ad. 



Shell OMite-ventiicose, cretaceous or dirt}' Avliite, epidermis 



thin, brownish, spire shorter thun the aperture ; whorls Ibur-and- 



a-half convex, the last obtusely subangulate behind; aperture 



large, ovate, livid within ; inner lip smooth, convex, canal very 



short, open, scarcel}- rcflexed ; lip lirate within, towards the 



margin smooth, behind widely subsinuated. 



Japan. 



" This is the common edible Whelk of the Ainos." Not figured, 

 nor have I seen it. 



N. DESPECTA, Linn. PL 45, figs. 24t-254 ; PI. 46, figs. 255-2(51 ; 

 PI. 47, figs. 2G2-2()8. 

 Shell with a flat shoulder and keel, which is nodulous ; surface 

 covered with irregular revolving striae and riblets ; sometimes 

 longitudinally lamellose. Fawn-brown, lighter or whitish within 

 tlie aperture. Length, 3-5 iuches. 



Norway ; Spitzhercjeii ; Sihcria ; Japan ; Alaska ; 



Greenland ; Iceland ; N&wfoundland. 



A circumpolar species, very variable in form and sculpture, 

 and bearing numerous names. It has been confounded with N. 

 antiqua^ but appears to me to be distinct. It inhabits colder 

 seas, is not found in any portion of the British ocean, but occurs 

 in boreal Asia and America where the antijjua is not foimd. 



In the var. striata the revolving sculpture is pretty regular, 

 consisting of alternate larger and smaller strijy or riblets, and the 

 shoulder is destitute of tuberculation. The variety fornicata 

 (fig. 251) usually has the angle of the shoulder with a stout rib, 

 upon whi'cli are compressed tubercles, but the striai upon the rest 

 of the shell are more or less obsolete ; sometimes the angle itself 

 is obsolete and the tubercles form the only ornamentation of the 

 surface. This latter variety is still regarded by some good 

 conchologists as a distinct species ; my specimens, however, 

 clearly indicate to me its derivation from deapecta. Among the 

 synonyms of var. fornicata may be placed Fusus borealis, Phil, 

 (fig. 554), Ghrysodomus heros, Gray (figs. 252, 253, 255, 256), an 

 extremely lengthened, non-carinated form, which approaches 

 Siphonalia Kellettii^ Forbes, lYitonium antiquum^ Midd., not 

 Linn. (figs. 251-260), some forms of which are suggestive of 



