284 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Limacina helicoides, Jeffreys, 1877. 



St. 8. 2 m. net, 600-700 m. : i specimen. 

 St. 71. Young-fish trawl, 2000 (-0) m. : i specimen. 

 St. 87. Young-fish trawl, 1000 (-0) m. : i specimen. 

 St. 89. Young-fish trawl, 1000 (-0) m. : i specimen. 

 St. 100 C. Young-fish trawl, 2500-2000 m. : i specimen. 



Three of the above hauls were made west of Cape Town ; the other two were made 

 between Tristan da Cunha and the Falkland Islands. This is always a rare species and 

 appears to belong to a water layer with temperature below 10° C. The animal is purple- 

 black in colour and, as in L. helicina, the pigmented outer skin peels off very easily. 

 Vayssiere (1915, p. 136) thinks it probable that the body is reddish or violet when alive. 

 The fins are oval and have a continuous margin without any lobe. The apron is not very 

 large and carries a horny operculum with a spire of two turns, the last being 8-10 times 

 wider than the first. The right tentacle is much larger than the left, and, as in Cleodora 

 falcata, Pfeffer, both tentacles are surmounted by conspicuous ivory-coloured plates. 

 One of the four large plates in the gizzard is always larger than the rest. The median and 

 lateral teeth are proportionately of the same size. The median tooth is triangular, but the 

 denticles are very irregular in shape and size. The genital gland is yellow, and the sac- 

 shaped copulatory organ has a very long caecal prolongation. The shell is snail-shaped, 

 opaque and dull orange in colour. It is composed of 3-3J whorls and has very fine 

 transverse striae. 



This is the largest species of the genus. Vayssiere (i9i5,p. 137) gives the transverse 

 dimensions of the animal across the fins as lo-ii mm., and the size of the shell 4-9 mm. 

 in diameter and 3-6 mm. in height. 



Distribution. " Several stations in the Atlantic, from off the British Isles to the 

 Azores, always dead and at considerable depths" (Sykes, 1905). Atlantic, south of 

 equator, along African coast, alive (Meisenheimer, 1905). South-west Ireland, alive 

 (Massy, 1909). Western part of North Atlantic, 400-1500 m. (Bonnevie, 1913). North 

 Atlantic off the Azores, four alive (Vayssiere, 191 5). 



Limacina bulimoides (d'Orbigny), 1836. 



Atlanta bulimoides, d'Orb., 1836. 



Spiralis bulimoides, Eydoux and Souleyet, 1840. 



St. 87. Young-fish trawl, 1000 (-0) m.: 20 specimens. 



This is a small species, individuals measuring only 2 mm. in length with fins extended. 

 The shell has a relatively high spire composed of five or six whorls, and measures 

 1-2 mm. in length. It is smooth and transparent, and generally of a dark horn colour. 

 The operculum is oblong with an eccentric spire. 



The species occurs in the warmer portions of all seas. It does not appear to have been 

 taken farther north in the Atlantic than between Newfoundland and the Azores (Bon- 

 nevie, 1913). Mile Bonnevie observed that most of the specimens had a bright red 



