256 



Records of the Indian Museum. 



[Vol. XVI, 



Nevill seem to have regarded this last as a dwarfed form of A 

 gangetica, but it appears to us to be perfectly distinct. 



Auricula translucens, sp. nov. 



(Plate XX, fig. II). 



The shell is small, exceptionally thin, colourless, transluscent 

 and (without the periostracum) semi-hyaline ; the periostracum 

 is thin and of a pale greenish olivaceous tint. The shape is 

 elongate-ovate ; the apex is bluntly pointed ; there are ^^ or 

 6 whorls, but the apical whorl is usually eroded. The spire is 

 short, less than a third as long as the body-whorl in dorsal view. 

 Though the whorls increase gradually and evenly, the suture is 

 narrowly impressed ; it is not markedly oblique. The body-whorl 

 is long and narrow, distinctly spindle-shaped and almost pointed 

 anteriorly; its inner profile is regularly arched, but its outer pro- 

 iile, proceeding from behind forwards, first slopes outwards and 

 backwards for a short distance, then runs almost straight back- 

 wards for the greater part of its length, and finally becomes con- 

 cave and slopes inwards to the anterior extremity. The mouth 

 of the shell is long and narrow, extending backwards for nearly six- 

 sevenths of the length of the body- whorl, curving inwards posteri- 

 orly and tapering to a point ; anteriorly it is very narrowly rounded. 

 The margin of the outer lip is thin, but there is a slight and per- 

 fectly smooth ridge running parallel to it just inside the mouth, 

 and the anterior margin is sHghtly thickened. Only two columellar 

 folds are visible ; they are not very prominent and are situated in 

 the anterior third of the aperture. The external surface of the shell 

 is marked with fine longitudinal, rather widely separated curved 

 striae, and with much finer and more numerous transverse striae ; 

 it is also minutely and lightly pitted. The pits or punctures are 

 much larger and deeper on the posterior part of the body-whorl 

 and on the spire than on the anterior two-thirds of the former. 

 The inner surface is highly polished, iridescent, and microscopi- 

 cally transversely striate. 



Mgasuremenls of shells {in millimetres). 



Type. 



Length of shell 



Greatest breadth of body- whorl 



Breadth of spire at base 



Length of spire 



Length of aperture 



Greatest breadth of aperture 



8-5 

 3-6 

 23 



6-2 

 1-6 



8-1 

 3-4 



21 

 II 



6-1 

 1-5 



•8 

 35 

 2-3 



1*2 



1-8 



The animal is white and transluscent, with a brownish tinge 

 on the tentacles. The foot is rounded, slightly emarginate in 

 front and rounded behind. The tentacles are long and slightly 

 inflated at the tips, which are often invaginated when the animal 



