644 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



pressed revolving grooves, of which 8 or 10 are wider and deeper than 

 the rest ; similar but finer grooves cross the spaces between the costie, 

 but are mostly obsolete on the costte;*the middle whorls usually have a 

 similar number of costa?, which are less prominent, and often more or 

 less obsolete, while the spaces between are crossed by numerous fine 

 revolving striaj. The canal is short, broad, and nearly straight ; the 

 outer lip well rounded, not incurved anteriorly, but with a decided 

 emargination posteriorly. Length of mature shells, 13"""; diameter, 

 6"""", often smaller. 



Specimens of the same size and form from Vineyard Sound and New 

 Haven agree closely with the above description in most respects, but 

 have 14 or 15 costse on the last whorl, and about 20 on the preceding 

 ones, where the costte are so crowded that the spaces between are often 

 narrower than the costae. 



Anachis similts Verrill. Plate XXI, fig. 109. 



Columhella similis Ravenel, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philad., 1861, p. 41. Columbella 

 transUrata Ravenel, op. cit., p. 42. CohtmheUa avara (in part) Gould, Invert. 

 ed. i, p. 313, fior. 197 ; ed. ii, p. 356, fig. 726. 



Massachusetts Bay to Georgia. Abundant in Vineyard Sound and 

 Long Island Sound ; Great Egg Harbor. Fort Macon (Dr. Yarrow.) 

 This species is usually much more elongated than tlie preceding, with a 

 more elevated spire, the broadest place being a little above the lower 

 third of the length. Whorls, 10 ; flattened ; the nuclear whorls smooth 

 The canal is longer, and usually distinctly excurved ; the outer lip is 

 more or less incurved anteriorly, so as to slightly narrow the canal; the 

 body-whorl has 18 to 20 or more rather regular, obtuse costal, sepa- 

 rated by spaces of about the same width, generally slightly nodular close 

 to the suture; at some distance below the middle of the whorl they 

 gradually disappear, but sometimes there are also smaller intermediate 

 costffi below the middle of the whorl (var. transUrata) ; the lower part 

 of the whorl is covered with numerous well-impressed, revolving 

 grooves, which cross the lower ends of the costte, rendering them nodu- 

 lous; on the upper part of the whorls the revolving grooves are larger 

 and more distinct than in the preceding species, and usually continue 

 over the cost.T ; the one next below the suture is usually larger than 

 the rest, and thus produces the subsutural nodules; the grooves are 

 generally least distinct in the middle of the lower whorl, which is some- 

 times slightly angulated. On the middle whorls there are numerous 

 (usually more than 25) regular costae, like those of the last one, and 

 crossed by about 5 distinct revolving grooves, more conspicuous in the 

 spaces between; the upper one largest, usually producing a distinct series 

 of nodules on each whorl. Color exceedingly variable, generally dark 

 reddish brown, chestnut, or light yellowish brown, more or less mottled 

 and specked with whitish ; there is often a subsutural band of white, 

 or the nodules are white, and also a band of white around the middle 



