PULMONATA. 149 
occur so abundantly in the neighbourhood of London, as well as some from Brackles- 
ham Bay, although they present points of difference, yet, on the whole, agree so closely 
with the type that they cannot be regarded otherwise than as local varieties. In the 
Highgate shells (figs. 1 ¢, d,) the second row of spines disappears more early than in the 
Hampshire specimens, and the sutura margin is much thickened; the columella and 
the folds upon it, in the younger specimens, resemble those of the type, but, in the 
mature shell, the columella is more flattened, and additional folds arise among the 
normal ones, which latter become thicker and more prominent, the whole assuming a 
callus-like appearance ; the outer lip also is thickened, and the principal spines are not 
so nodiform. The identity of the Bracklesham Bay shells (figs. 1 e, 4,) with the present 
species is not so obvious; in them the whorls are wider and more sharply angulated 
on the shoulder, the ribs are generally more distant, and the spines acute and larger ; 
but among the Highgate shells individuals occur in which the whorls are more sharply 
angulated, and the spines sharp and projecting. In the thickened sutural margin, the 
thick, plicated outer lip, the condition of the columella, and the character of the colu- 
mellar folds, the Bracklesham Bay shells agree with those from Highgate, and I am 
unwilling, therefore, to consider them to be distinct from the present species. 
Dr. Beyrich (oc. cit.) has described a Volute from Westeregeln, in Magdeburg, 
which he has named /. devera, and which he considers to be identical “ with a species 
from Barton not described by Mr. Sowerby;” and, he adds, that “ most certainly” his 
species cannot be the young condition of “ V. xodosa, for which the species in question 
from Barton seems to have been considered.” Dr. Beyrich refers to the Highgate 
Volute, figured in vol. 7, Min. Con. (t. 613, fig. 1), which, he says, “in fact resembles 
the V. devera of Barton;” and also to the Bracklesham Bay Volute figured in Mr. 
’ 
Dixon’s work; and this last, he adds, “judging from the figure, is scarcely distinguish- 
able from the Barton species.’ One of the prominent characters of the Hampshire 
shells is the very obtuse angle at which the whorl is bent at the shoulder, giving a sub- 
conical form to the spire. This character distinguishes the Highgate shells, although, 
as I have stated, it is less strongly marked in those from Bracklesham Bay ; it is also 
found in the Westeregeln shells, and is particularly noticed by Dr. Beyrich ; but I know 
of only one other Volute from the Hampshire beds which possesses it (V. ambigua, Sol.), 
and this species, even in the costated variety, is perfectly distinct. I am ata loss, therefore, 
to conceive what the Barton shell is to which Dr. Beyrich refers. His /. devera agrees 
so closely with the Highgate form, both in description and figure, that considering, as 
I do, the Highgate shell to be merely a local variety of the Hampshire /. xodosa, I 
should have cited /. devera as identical without hesitation, had not that geutleman 
expressly stated that it could not be referred to the present species. 
Size.-—Axis, 2 inches; diameter, 1 inch. 
Localities —Barton, Bracklesham Bay, Highgate, Sheppey. German, Westeregeln 
in Magdeburg? (fide Beyr.) 
