CHEMNITZIA. 243 



Chcmniizia clei/antissima, Philippi, Moll. Sicil. vol. ii. p. 136. 



„ ffracilis, Philippi, Moll. Sicil. vol. ii. p. 137, pi. 24, f. 11, 

 „ pusilla, Philippi, Moll. Sicil. vol. ii. p. ■224, pi. 28, f. 21. 



Eulima elegcmtissima, Macgiluv. Moll. Aberd. p. 141. 



Pyramis „ Brown, Illust. Conch. G. B. p. 14, pi. 9, f. CI. 



Odostomia lactca, Jeffreys, Ann. Nat. Hist, new ser. vol. ii. p. 348. 



From the uncertainty which must ever exist as to 

 whether the Turlo lacteus of Linnaeus was identical or 

 not with this graceful shell, we have preferred the appel- 

 lation under which the species was first clearly character- 

 ized and published. It is possible that Dr. Philippi, who 

 has evidently subdivided this species in his " Enumeratio 

 Molluscorum Sicilise," may have been correct in so doing ; 

 but although we have shells on our own coasts that 

 decidedly accord with his descriptions and figures of pu- 

 silla and gracilis^ we are not prepared to regard them 

 as more than varieties, until an enlarged knowledge of 

 their several inhabitants confirms their claims to specific 

 distinction. We will proceed, then, to describe the 

 larger or more typical form, and then point out the more 

 strikingly aberrant forms. 



The shell, which is thin, semi-transparent, and of an 

 uniform glossy white, has a slender and produced-turreted 

 shape, that is not cylindraceous, but tapers with moderate 

 quickness to a fine but irregularly twisted apex. There 

 are from eleven to thirteen slowly enlarging simple (not 

 scalariform) volutions, which are decidedly narrow (occa- 

 sionally so greatly so that the width is twice the height), 

 plano-convex, and divided by a not particularly oblique 

 fine, yet strongly impressed, suture. They are longitudi- 

 nally traversed by very numerous (from sixteen to twenty 

 in general) and densely arranged oblique ribs, that are 

 more or less prominent and strong, sometimes a little 

 flexuous, but not arched, and never crenated nor marked 



