212 PROCEEDINGS OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



DESCRIPTION OF MARGINELLA PRINCEPS, n.sp. 



By G. B. Sowerby, P.L.S., etc. 



Read 8th March, 1901. 



] PLATE XXII, Fig. 15. 



In a very old collection, which recently came into my hands, the most 

 remarkable shell was the Ma/rginella forming the subject of the pi-esent 

 paper. It seems somewhat strange that a shell of such a striking 

 appearance, and so entirely different from any known species, should 

 for so many years have escaped observation, or at least that it should 

 never have been described, or figured. Such, however, seems to be 

 the case, and as a shell of princely aspect I propose to call it 



Marginella princeps, n.sp. PI. XXII, Pig. 15. 



Testa subpyriforine-ovata, ventricosa, utrinque leviter attenuata, 

 rufo-aurantia, zona pallida in medio cincta ; spira immersa, contecta ; 

 apertura arcuatim elongata, antice latiuscula, postice angustior; 

 columella breviter contorta, ad basim leviter sinistrorsum retracta, 

 extus valde callosa, inferne quadriplicata, plica ultima crassa, per- 

 obliqua, penultima angustior, obliqua, cseteris parvis, vix obliquis; 

 labrum arcuatum, crassissimum, intus dentato-plicatum, antice sinis- 

 trorsum reflexum, callo columellari juncturn, postice rotundatum, 

 supra spiram elatum. Long. 41, lat. 26, alt. 22 mm. 



Hah.— ? 



The species most nearly approaching this in form is If. Largillierti, 

 Kiener, which never attains to so large a size, and differs from it in 

 coloration, as well as in other more important characters. The 

 columella plaits of M. princeps are placed much lower down than 

 in any of the other large species ; they are also small and thin, with 

 the exception of the last, which is callously thickened. The specimen 

 has numerous white specks on the exterior of the outer lip, somewhat 

 like those which characterize Cyprcea Bregeriana, Crosse ; but as these 

 may be accidental I have not included them in the diagnosis. 



