98 AMERICAN JOURNAL 



Class GASTEROPODA. 

 PLEUROTOMIDiE. 

 BELA., Leach. 

 BELA? LAEVIGATA, n. S. 



Shell short, stout, of four or five robust whorls, smooth, or 

 with excessively fine revolving lines ; spire short, usually one- 

 third or less of the total length, but varying somewhat ; suture 

 distinct but not channelled, whorls not turrited, apex rather 

 obtuse, nucleus minute, whitish, smooth, of a whorl and a half; 

 aperture about two-thirds as long as the shell, wide ; outer lip 

 effuse, sutural sinus more or less marked ; canal short, straight, 

 wide ; exterior sometimes marked with rather rugged lines of 

 growth, or quite smooth, but not polished ; color livid purple, 

 with a superficial wash of white, a solid white line below the 

 suture, anterior extremity of the columella white, callus evident 

 but not conspicuous. Lon. '33, lat. - 2 in. Defl. 65°. 



This very peculiar little shell is of a solid and rugged aspect, 

 even living specimens looking as if beach-worn and dead. 



It varies in the roundness of the whorls and the elevation of 

 the spire. Living specimens sometimes present no revolving 

 lines, while others show excessively fine ones. A variety (?) 

 tenuilirata, is pure white, with distinct revolving lines decus- 

 sated by regular lines of growth. Only one specimen of this 

 description was found, which is even more globular than the 

 typical form, and has a deeper sinus and narrower aperture. It 

 may be distinct. 



Dr. Carpenter suggested that it was the fry of a Buccinum, 

 and, while my opinion was strougly adverse to this, as the shell 

 has a distinct nucleus of its own, differing from that of the Buc- 

 cinums of that region, I should hardly have felt willing to 

 describe it had I not found living specimens. 



The animal is identical with that of Bela, but the operculum 

 is more like that of Drillia, as it wants the pointed spur figured 

 by Adams in the operculum of Bela nobitis (Gen. Rec. Moll. pi. 

 x, f. 3 a, b.) Its depressed spire and smooth whorls differ from 

 the typical Belce, aud it may eventually require a section to 

 itself. 



Habitat, Norton Sound, Alaska Territory, at the Fort of St. 

 Michael, on the beach, dead, in very large numbers, and alive 

 among stones at low water. 



MANGELIA ? ALASKENSIS, n. Sp. 



Shell elongate, fusiform, of a reddish or purplish brown, of 



