306 REPORT ON ALBATROSS MOLLUSCA DALL. 



rate as far as the form is concerned, gives very little idea of the beauty 

 of the brilliant brown epidermis and sharply iucised sculpture. 



Subgenus PLEUROTOMELLA Verrill. 



Pleurotomella cingulata sp. uov. 



Plate vi, Fig. 2. 



Shell large, fusiform, of a rich reddish brown, deepest on the pillar, 

 with a closely adherent, very thin, polished epidermis; whorls seven, 

 without the nucleus, which is lost in the specimen, while the outer coat 

 of the apical whorls is much eroded ; whorls full and rouuded, suture 

 distiuct, not appressed or channeled ; transverse sculpture only of fine 

 inconspicuous lines of growth; spiral sculpture of two sorts: first, a 

 fine, sharp, slightly irregular striation, which covers the whole surface j 

 secondly, of revolving elevated ciuguli, of which three on the periph- 

 ery are more widely and deeply separated and more elevated than 

 the others; these three have interspaces equal to or wider than them- 

 selves; on the last whorl in front of the periphery the cinguli are 

 flat-topped little elevated wide bands with narrower interspaces, this 

 sculpture becoming obscure toward the canal; above the periphery 

 is one well-marked ciugulum slightly turreting the whorl which in- 

 clines from it to the suture in a flattened manner ; aperture pointed in 

 front, wider behind ; pillar simple, perfectly straight, anteriorly attenu- 

 ated ; body and pillar with a thin dark brown glaze ; outer lip very 

 thin, sharp, creuulated by the outside sculpture, which also grooves the 

 interior; notch shallow, wide; fasciole hardly visible; canal short, wide, 

 hardly differentiated, straight. Altitude of shell 73 ; maximum diame- 

 ter 30 mm . 



Hab. — U. S. Fish Commission Station 2793, off the coast of Ecuador, 

 in 741 fathoms, mud ; bottom temperature 38°.4 F. 



The soft parts of this species were preserved, but had been so hard- 

 ened that the shell was nearly ruined in the effort to extract them. The 

 surface is rather rugose, of a rusty brownish color ; the foot is narrow, 

 double-edged, and slightly auriculate in front, rather pointed behind. 

 The tentacles are very short and stout, with no traces of eyes or 

 peduncles. 



The proboscis and all its appendages are absent, probably, being ex. 

 tended at the moment of capture, they were torn out by the edge of the 

 dredge. The gill and osphradium are as usual. 



I may mention here that in this, as well as nearly all the other cases 

 of abyssal shells with well marked coloration, the specimen, though 

 kept in the dark, has faded rapidly. It is now mostly of a pale choc- 

 olate-and-milk color, except at the points where it touches the bottom 

 of the paper tray in which it is kept, or on the columella under the 

 glaze. 



