MUTELA 1363 



M[jTi-;r,A pr.rcATA (Sowerby). 



Shell much elongated, somewhat obovate, scarcely subsolid, 

 convex, very inequilateral ; widely gaping in front and behind ; 

 beaks low; posterior ridge slightly developed above, fading 

 out below; dorsal margin straight; anterior end narrowed, 

 rounded, cut away below ; posterior end almost evenly round- 

 ed; base nearly straight; surface with irregular, concentric 

 sculpture, and a series of uneven folds and low humps along 

 the line of the posterior ridge ; epidermis pale greenish-brown, 

 subshining; hinge line narrow in front, wider and showing 

 th-e prismatic layer behind, edentulous ; muscle scars shallow, 

 <iuite irregular; nacre lurid violet, iridescent. 



Length 112, height 38.5, diam. 20 mm. 



Syene, Upper Egypt. 

 Mycetopus plicatus Sowerby, Conch. Icon., XVI, 1868, pi. 11, 



fig. 3.— Fischer, Jl. de Conch., XXXVIII, 1890, p. 8.— 



P.TJTEL, Conch. Sam., Ill, 1890, p. 187. 

 Platiris (Mycetopus) plicatus Lea, Syn.,1870. p. 90. 

 Miitcla plicata Jickeli, Faun. Moll. N. Ost-Af., 1874, p. 270. 



— Simpson, Syn.. 1900, p. fX)5. 

 Mutelina plicata Germain, Arch. Zool. Exp. et Gen., (5), I, 



1909, p. 58. 



There is a specimen in the National Museum from Syene, 

 which agrees generally with the shell figured and partly de- 

 scribed by Sowerby. It is rather darker in color, has lower 

 beaks, and the foldings on the posterior part are not so regu- 

 lar as his figure shows. Whether these foldings and humps 

 are normal or the result of disease I am unable to say. 



This is certainly not a Mycetopoda, but is evidently nearer 

 Mutela than anything. I have placed it in that group as a sub- 

 genus, though it may be worthy of generic rank. 



Mutela joudini (Germain). 



"Shell large, narrowly elongate, siliquiform, quite compress- 

 ed ; valves thin, fragile, gaping at both ends, decidedly so in 

 front, very much more posteriorly : dorsal and ventral margins 

 slightly diverging ; dorsal margin nearly straight, but slightly 



