THE NAUTILUS. om 
edge; hinge teeth small, one in the right valve and two in the left ; 
lateral teeth rudimentary, almost obsolete; concentric lines of 
growth very strongly marked. Length 1 inch, height °,, breadth 3. 
Linnaeus in 1767, described an European shell under the name 
of divaricata. Lamarck in 1818 and his followers, supposing our 
shell to be identical with that of Linnaeus, called it by the same 
name. The above list of synonyms does not include all the names 
given by authors to this shell, for several others, besides those quoted, 
on discovering that our shell was a distinct species, hasten to give it 
a new name without troubling themselves to ascertain whether or 
not any one else had previously made the same discovery. Our 
species has the greatest geographical distribution of any known shell, 
but does not inhabit Europe. It inhabits from Cape Cod to Brazil, 
nearly all the Pacifie coast of North and South America, the eastern 
coast of Asia, Seychelles, Isl Bourbon and Australia, and not only 
found living, but also as fossils in nearly all these widely separated 
localities. It lives in deep water and I have never seen a living spec- 
imen in Rhode Island, although single valves are plenty on Block 
Island, Newport and Narragansett Pier. 
Another species, Lucina filosa, inhabiting from Massachusetts 
Bay to Nova Scotia, has been found some distance off Block Island 
in 29 fathoms in sandy mud, but I think is hardly entitled to a place 
among the ‘Shell-bearing Mollusca of Rhode Island.” 
Cryptodon Gouldii, another species of the Lucinide family, in- 
habiting deep water and also taken from the stomachs of Codfish, 
was found at the same time and place with Lucina filosa; also a 
new species, Cryptodon obesus, A. E. Verrill, described by him in 
American Journal of Science, 111, 221, 1872. 
FAMILY UNGULINIDZ. 
Not represented on our shores. 
FAMILY ERYCINIDZ. 
This family contains twelve genera, three of which are represented 
in New England, Montacuta, Lepton and Kellia. Species of Mont- 
acuta and Lepton inhabit the shores north of Cape Cod and have 
been found in New Bedford Harbor, but no species representing 
this family have been found in Rhode Island excepting this: 
