08 rUOCEEDINGS OF THK M ALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



N"oTE ON JVeptfwea axtiqua. {Bead 6th April, 1906.) — The 

 variability of this si)ecies in form, size, and sculpture is proverl)ial. 

 Jeffreys mentions four varieties, and as many as twelve monstrosities. 

 Of the two specimens now exhibited, one is remarkable for its great size, 

 and the other on account of its rarity as an abnormality. The largest 

 recorded dimensions are those given by Jeffreys, who says, " Now and then 

 giants are seen, 7 or 8 inches long," the usual average size being about 

 half that length. The present example is exactly 8h inches long, and 

 with the protoconch (which is broken away) must have been nearly 



9 inches. The other specimen is an example of the Monstrum Babylonicnm^ 

 which was described and figured by Captain Thomas Brown as Fxisus 

 Jktbylonicus in his "Illustrations of the Recent Conchology of Great 

 Britain and Ireland," p. 127, pi. Ivii, fig. 19. He did, however, entertain 

 Some doubt of its si)ocific distinctness, for he observed, " this shell has 

 much the aspect of Fasas antiquus, and is probably only a lusus of that 

 species." 



He "found it on the strand, opposite Hull." The present specimen 

 came from Billingsgate Market, and has been presented to the British 

 Museum by Mr. E. J. Field. 



Sinistral specimens of this species are very rare. Forbes and Hanley 

 mention one as having been procin-ed by IMr. C4. B. Sowerby from off the 

 mouth of the Thames, and the British Museum in 1843 purchased 

 a small example said to have been found in Pegwell Bay, Kent. 



Sinistral examples have been casually quoted as occurring on the 

 English coast, but I do not find any actual records of individual specimens. 



Mr. B. B. Woodward has shown me a specimen in his collection found 

 off Hastings, and Mr. A. lleynell also possesses an example, but he does 

 not know where it was obtained. The Rev. Canon Norman also possesses 

 two specimens. 



Mr. F. W. Harmer,' in a paper dealing with this species, observes : 

 " Reversed specimens of Neptunea antiqua are very occasionally met with 

 on tlie English coast, but except that they are left-handed, they cannot be 

 distinguisiied from the right-handed shells among which they occur. The 

 sinistral forms of Vigo Bay {N. contraria) are, on the contrary, materially 

 different from the dextral species of British or Arctic seas," an opinion 

 with which I fully concur. 



E. A. Smith. 



Ox THE NAME PiLSBRYELLA, VON IhERING. {Rccid 6th April, 1906.) 



A year ago, in the Proceedings of this Society (Vol. VI, p. 199), I proposed 

 the name Pilshryelta as a section of Tomigerus, the paper being published 

 in March, 1905. It has recently been brought to my notice that Herr 

 Nierstrasz utilized the same term (Chitonen der Siboga Exped., p. 11) 

 for a section o{ Lepidopleums, his paper being published in January, 1905. 

 I therefore propose to re^jlace Pitsbryella, von Ihering, non Nierstrasz, by 

 Cearella, nom. nov. 



H. VON Ihering. 



Troc. lut. Couo-r. Zoul., 1898, 



