LOWER CALIFORNIAN MOLLUSCA. 14! 



Taste Mountains, at about 4,200 feet, two more slender 

 than the rest. Only one is fresh, and was probably alive 

 when found. Both forms are represented double the 

 natural size in pi. vi, figs. 18, 19, to show the extremes 

 more " characteristically " than the former figures. The 

 whorls in ahhreviata vary from 8 to 9/^. Fig. 31 shows 

 how the sculpture on 3 whorls resembles that of B . arte- 

 misia, and under that species I have noted the remarkable 

 similarity in the form of the shells, which extends to that 

 of the nuclear whorls also. 



Melaniella tastensis n. sp. Plate vi, fig. 21. 



Shell dextral, much elongated, white, translucent, nuclear 

 whorls as in M. eiseniana, third less narrowed, sculpture 

 nearly similar, whorls 14 to 16, longer and less oblique, 

 14 of them equaling 16 in that species. Outline of whorls 

 flatter, mouth vertically longer, body-whorl not contracted, 

 peristome not continuous, the lips being separated by the 

 parietal wall about -^-^^ of an inch. Whole shell a fifth 

 longer, with the same number of whorls. 



Length 0.74 inch, breadth 0.08; mouth o.io long, 0.06 

 v/ide.* 



Six only were found at Saltito Pass, just north of El 

 Taste Mountains, at 3,200 feet altitude. In some the 

 upper 6 or 7 whorls are much slenderer, proportionately, 

 than the rest, as if they were starved when young, and 

 often bent out of the straight course, as shown in figure. 



Found under damp wood on the ground at the end of 

 the wet (summer) season. Only two of them have 16 

 whorls, one 13, and three 11, these being immature. 



Fig. 21 represents this species, and fig. 20 is M. eisen- 

 iaiia, given for comparison, both double the natural size. 

 The figures of the latter, much enlarged, in vol. iii, 2d se- 

 ries, pi. xiii, give fuller details of form. 



*The breadth given for M. eiseniana as 0.14 is an error for 0.08. 



