244 PYRAMIDELLIDiE. 



with any sculpture whatsoever ; tlie interstices are Hkewise 

 quite smooth, and ahnost always, if not constantly, nar- 

 rower than the ribs. The base, whose surface is on a 

 level with the costa;, is smooth, or only marked by lines 

 of growth, and is moderately rounded. The aperture, 

 which is subrhombic-oval, occupies from one-fifth to one- 

 sixth of the entire length of the shell, and rather more 

 than one-half the basal diameter. The outer lip scarcely 

 recedes in front, and is a little incurved posteriorly. The 

 pillar is straight, vertical, narrow, rather long, and forms 

 a distinct angle with the upper portion of the inner lip. 

 Our largest specimens measure three-eighths of an inch 

 long, and a full line at the broadest part.* 



Both gracilis and pusilla are much smaller, and have a 

 lesser number of volutions (nine), which are rather higher 

 in proportion, than in the type. In the former variety the 

 shape is more aciculate ; in the latter the form is more 

 cylindrical below, and more abruptly tapering above. 

 The animal is white. 



This is by far the commonest of the Chemnitzi^B, being 

 met with almost all round the coasts of the United King- 

 dom, though most abundantly on the Southern and 

 Western shores. It is dredged also in shallower water 

 than most of the other species ; hence it is more frequently 

 picked up dead on the sands. Its foreign distribution is 

 very extensive. 



* The obscure Turbo suharcuatus of Adams (Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. iii. p. 66, 

 pi. 13, f. 27, 28.— Mont. Test. Brit. p. 333.— Maton and Rack. Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. vol. viii. p. 185.— TuRT. Conch. Diction, p. 230. — Pyramis s. Brown, 111. 

 Conch. G. B. p. 14, pi. 9, f. 62) is supposed, and with much probability, by Mr. 

 Jeffreys to be merely a curved form of this species. The equally obscure Turbo 

 carinutulus of British compilers, constituted merely from a wretched drawing in 

 Walker's " Testacea Minuta," may possibly be a broken-mouthed example of this 

 shell likewise: it is certainly meant for a Ckevmitzia, but the species must be 

 conjectural. 



