36 



shell, they cannot be considered two species. It differs 

 from M. biiccinoides in the form of tlie inoiitli which is 

 narrower in the lower part, being^ equally eloiii^ated with 

 the spire, and in the subcylindricai form of the middle 

 portion. The striae of growth are more or less conspicu- 

 ous, but in general they are obscure, and the surface 

 highly polished with much of the aspect of an internal 

 marine shell. 



Foreign Collectors have confounded this with Mela- 

 nopsis buccinoides, a shell that lives in therivers between 

 Tyre and Sidon, and is indeed very similar. The shell 

 mentioned by Mr. Webster in the Second Volume of the 

 Transactions of the Geological Society, as occurring in 

 the upper marine formation on the Isle of Wight, and at 

 Woolwich, and called by Mr. Parkinson, Ancilla buccin- 

 oides, appears to be the one before us : imperfect 

 s})ecimens of it might easily be mistaken for Ancilla, to 

 which the spire and even the callus in the mouth bear a 

 strong resemblance ; and more especially at a time Avhen 

 the Genus Pvielanopsis had not been pointed out. It was 

 moreover found in the vicinity of Marine shells, even of 

 Ancilla subulata. The Melanopsis fusiformis is one of 

 those presumed fresh water shells that occur in the up- 

 per Marine formation only, and have produced a variety 

 of opinions respecting it. 



Figs. 1 and 2 represent the extremes of form selected from the Isle 

 of Wight specimens collected by Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. G. B. Sowerby. 

 —Fig. 3 was found at New Charlton by H. Goodhall Esq. — Fig. 1 is from 

 Woolsvich, picked np by the Rev. H. Steinhauer. — Fig. ii represent* or.e 

 fiom New Cross near Deptford. — Figs. 6 and 7 are from HordweU 

 specimens, one of which is truncated in a way common to some laud 

 sliells, but very extravagantly. 



MELANOPSIS subulatus. 



TAB. CCCXXXIL— Fig, 8. 



Spec. Char. Conical subulate, smooth ; mouth 

 ovate, one third the length of the shell. 



j^HE mouth of this species is remarkably shorf, and ex- 

 tends but a little way up the spire, which has about seven 

 whorls, and is above three times us long as wide, and 

 much more produced than the base. 



Found along with the last on the Isle of Wight, I have 

 seen but one individual. 



