36 AMERICAN MARINE CONCHOLOQY. 



It is a veiy pretty shell ; a single specimen was found in a fish 

 off Charleston bar ; fourteen fathoms. It resembles N. incrassata 

 of England, and we have seen it in collections labelled " N. am- 

 bigua, Mor., West Indies." 



This species I have not been able to identify. It has never 

 been figured, and, as onlj^ a single specimen was obtained, it may 

 be considered a doubtful species. 



Genus PURPURA, Bruguiere. 

 Encyc. Method., i. 15, 241. 1789. 

 Shell oblong-oval, last whorl large ; spire short ; aperture ovate, 

 large, with an oblique channel or groove at the forepart ; colu- 

 mella flattened; outer lip simple. 



There are about one hundred and fifty species; inhabiting the 

 seas of temperate and warm climates. 



1. P. LAriLLUS, Linuseus. Figs. 56, 57. 



(Buccinum.) Syst. Nat., edit. xii. 1202. 



Shell ovate, thick and solicl ; spire short and very acute, suture 

 impressed ; whorls five, with deep revolving furrows and inter- 

 vening ribs, and transverse raised scale-like wrinkles. Aperture 

 ovate ; lip arched and subacute, with obscure revolving ridges 

 within the margin. Pillar lip produced, concave externally at the 

 base ; canal short. Operculum horn}^, oval. Color from white, 

 tlirough various shades of yellow, to dark red, sometimes with a 

 white band. 



Length 31, diam. IT mill. 



Inhabits rocky shores. It is a verj'^ variable species in coloration 

 and form, and is equally common on both sides of the Atlantic. • 

 Entire Coast, Oreenland to Florida. (Euro2)e.} 



2, P. Floridana, Conrad. Fig. 58. 



Journ. Pbilad. Acad. Nat. Sci., vii. t. 20 f. 21. 1837. 



Shell oblong-ovate, conspicuously attenuated at both ends, spire 

 sharp; whorls depressed and finely noduled around the upper part, 

 transversely very closely ridged and grooved throughout, interior 

 of the aperture deeply grooved. Bluish-gray, indistinctl^'^ and 

 irregularly encircled with narrow yellow zones, and rather indis- 

 tinctly painted with blackish longitudinal waves, columella and 

 interior of the aperture orange-yellow, frequently banded within. 



North Carolina to Florida. 



