208 WEST AMERICAN SHELLS STEARNS. 



applied to the helicoids of the Pacific slope, but I do not perceive the 

 propriety of substituting the generic name Lysiiioe, H. & A. Ad., 1855, 

 any more than Aglaia Albers 18G0, for Arionta Leach 1820. As for 

 Helminthoglypta, Micrarionta, Euparypha, etc., as applied to the West 

 coast snails, there is nothing in them more or less than a beggarly 

 threshing of beaten straw, not a grain of wheat, or in other words pro- 

 priety or advantage in their use, neither should Ampelita, which^is illus- 

 trated by the African H. sepulchralis, be applied to any of the West 

 American species, as it has been to BoivelU, on insufficient and superfi- 

 cial grounds. 



Family PUPID^ 



Genus HOLOSPIRA, Von Martens. 



Holospira semisculpta sp. uov, 



Plate XV, Figs. 1,4. 



Shell dextral, elongately cylindrical, pupiform, largest in the middle, 

 tapering above and below, with fourteen to fifteen whorls ; whorls some- 

 what convex; sutures distinct, though but slightly impressed. The up- 

 per two or two and a half whorls which form the apex are smooth, 

 slightly tortuous, papillose. The succeeding four to five whorls are 

 finely obliquely plicated ; the middle whorls, four to five in number, are 

 nearly or quite smooth, the sculpture when apparent being inconspic- 

 uous. The lower three or three and a half whorls are marked by sharp, 

 thin, and rather obliquely curved Yircn, which increase in number or 

 closeness as the mouth is approached. The termination of the basal 

 whorl projects considerably, is sharply angulated above on the project- 

 ing portion, which is also obtusely angulated on the under side. Aper- 

 ture continuous, moderately efituse roundly ovate, and flatly rimmed. 

 Umbilicus a simple chink. Shell of a delicate pinkish white, with a tint 

 of faint ijurple on some of the upper whorls. Dimensions: Longitude 

 22 to 23i'"'", greatest diameter 5^ to 6™™, number of specimens three 

 (Mus. No. 102310). This well characterized and very pretty species was 

 obtained by Mr. T. W. Stanton, who detected it July 27, 1889, in a 

 canon above San Carlos, Chihuahua, Mexico, attached in a dormant 

 condition to limestone cliffs. [Since the above was written I have come 

 across a specimen of H. Goahuilensis W. G. B., quite unsatisfactorily 

 described by said author; the example is somewhat imperfect, but sug- 

 gests a geographical if not a more intimate relationship with H. semi- 

 sculpta herein described ; the latter may prove to be a variety of Mr. 

 Biuney's shell.] 



Holospira arizonensis .sp. uov. 



Plate XV, Eigs. ii, ."?. 



Shell dextral, elongately cylindrical, i)upiform, dingy white to pale 

 horn color, translucent. Number of whorls twelve to thirteen. Slightly 

 convex, the sutures distinctly detined. The upper or six or seven 



