282 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [18S5. 



Habitat. — lu Florida, Tampa, Stearu.s; Key West and Cedar Keys, 

 Hemphill; Bahamas, Rawsou 5 Saint Thomas, West Indies, C. B. 

 Adams ; Cuba, Guadalupe, Porto liico, Aran go; Panama (as Melampus 

 Tahogensis Ad.), C. B. Adams; Jamaica (as M. coronatus), C. B. Adams. 



This species is best .distinguished from M. coffeus by its generally 

 single parietal lamina, its more irregular and fewer liroe, and in the 

 young state, when fresh, by the epidermis rising in little tufts along the 

 strong median sulcation or revolving groove, which usually marks the 

 middle of each whorl on the spire. This state constitutes the M. coro- 

 natus C. B. Adams. The dark brown W^est Indian specimens are very 

 distinct, and, taken by themselves, seem perfectly so, but Ploridian 

 specimens vary and are seldom dark brown. The^' approximate much 

 more nearly to M. coffeus, and appear, from the variations in color and 

 shape, to hybridize with M. Uneatus {hidentatus) Say. M. Tahogensis 

 seems undistinguishable from some West Indian varieties. The white 

 bands vary from three to six in number. The revolving grooves or 

 striae are more constant and more conspicuous than in M. coffeus, and 

 the shell on the whole is smaller. 



Melampus lineatus Say. Plate 18, figs. 9, 12. 



Melampus Uneatus Beck, Ind. Moll., p. 107. 1838. 



Melampus hidtntatus var. lineatus Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila., ii, p. 24C, 

 1822. 



Melampus hidentatus Say, 1. c, p. 245, aud most American authors. Not of Mon- 

 tague. 



Auricula cornea Desliayes, Encyc. M6tb., ii, p. 90, 1830. 



Melampus corneus Stm., Sli. of N. Engl., p. 51, 1851. 



Auricula biplicata Desliayes, 1. c, p. 91, 1830. 



Auricula jaumei Mittr(5, Revue ZooL, 1841, p. 66. 



Melampus horealis Pfeiffer. Not of Courad. 



Auricula bidentata Gould. Not of European authors. 



Habitat — Coast of the United States from New England to Texas; 

 Saint Augustine, Cedar Keys, Tampa Bay, in Florida, Hemphill ; 

 Saint Thomas, West Indies, C. B. Adams, in Nat. Mus. coll. ; Tortola, 

 Kjaer. On salt marshes and generally near the sea. 



This is a very distinct species in the north ; the southern specimens 

 frequently vary toward 31. flavus, and perhaps hybridize, as they are 

 found in the same localities. 



The name by which this species is usually known to American authors 

 is generally admitted to be objectionable by those who have looked 

 into the synonymy. It has been retained rather because the name of 

 corneus was considerably later and out of courtesy to the father of 

 American conchology. It does not seem to have been noticed that 

 Say's other name, which was applied to the northern variety and is of 

 equal date, could advantageously be used. 



The species is generally but not always provided with one parietal 

 and one columella tooth. There are sometimes two i)arietal teeth. Say 

 describes the southern form (his hidentatus) as having the posterior end 



