1889. J PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 311 



All the specimens obtained are of a yellowish ash color, but it is pos- 

 sible that when alive they were more translucent, if not whiter. 



Marginella avena Valenciennes. 



This species was collected at the Abrolhos Islands, on the Brazilian 

 coast, near Porto Allegre. 



Marginella succinea Conrad. 



Marginella lactea Kiener. 



Persicula catenata Montagu. 

 The three species above enumerated were obtained at Station 275S, 

 90 miles southeast from Cape San Boque, Brazil, 419 miles south of the 

 equator, in 20 fathoms, shelly bottom. 



Family VOLUTID^. 



Genus SCAPHELLA Swainson. 



Scaphella magellanica Sowerby. 



Plate IX, Figs. 5, 6. 



Scaphella magellanica Dall. Ball. Mns. Comp. Zool., xvm, p. 452, June. 1889. 

 Valuta magellanica Sowerby, Tues. Conch., I, 204, PL 54, f. ( J9, 1847; not of Chemnitz, 

 Conch. Cab. x, p. 139, 1788. 



Hab. — Straits of Magellan and the eastern coasts of South America 

 north of the Straits to latitude 36° 42' south; off the Rio de la Plata, in 

 from 10 to 80 fathoms ; temperature 4"J° to .30° F. 



In discussing the peculiar nucleus of the shell of Scaphella about a 

 year ago, I suggested that the form of the apex indicated the presence 

 in the young larva of a membranous, or at least partly membrauous, 

 protoconch to which the normal shell was added and which, after the 

 formation of the normal shell, decayed or was lost. I suggested that 

 the small sharp point characteristic of the tip in certain recent and 

 fossil species of Scaphella was probably formed by the deposition of 

 the first shelly matter along the line of the pillar of the membrau- 

 ous larval shell. It was therefore with a great deal of interest 

 that I found in the Albatross collection, containing the larval young, 

 several ovicapsulesot Scaphella magellanica from the coast of Patagonia. 



These ovicapsules are circular, about an inch (2S mm ) in diameter, 

 with a flat base attached to dead Pectens ; the upp^r part consists of a 

 rounded dome, about 12 mm high, rather more lenticular than hemi- 

 spherical, but varying somewhat in different specimens. It is exter- 

 nally exactly like the ovicapsule of Volutopsis from Alaska, and, like 

 that, contains two to four surviving larval shells. These remain in 

 the capsule until they have three or four shelly whorls. The apical 

 point is acutely conical, slightly twisted, and in the youngest specimens 

 (two-whorled) still retains some shreds of the extremely fragile mem- 



