474 CONIDiE. 



This handsome shell is of a turreted fusiform shape, 

 moderately thick, not much shining, and of a fawn-co- 

 loured or chestnut hue, that is varied on the body-whorl 

 by a narrow medial whitish fillet (beneath which the 

 surface becomes more intensely brown, so as to appear 

 obscurely banded with that colour), that is rarely, if ever, 

 continued upon the smaller volutions. The surface too is 

 often darker beneath the very fine suture, where it is 

 hollowed out a little, and is not crossed by the more or 

 less prominent and somewhat rounded paler ribs (of which 

 there are about twelve on the penult turn), that elsewhere 

 traverse the shell in a longitudinal direction. These last, 

 whose concave intervals are broader on the lower turns 

 than the ribs themselves, are somewhat oblique, especially 

 on the body, where, for the most part, they gradually 

 cease a little below the middle. The entire exterior is 

 densely grooved, likewise, in a spiral direction, the sulci 

 being converted into close-set striae on the concave infra- 

 sutural area. The spire, which is about as long as the 

 body, gradually tapers to a very fine point ; it is formed 

 by nine volutions, that are more or less rounded, of 

 moderate longitudinal inci-ease, and of tolerable (but not 

 peculiar) height. The basal declination of the bod}-, 

 which, moderately ventricose above, attenuates anteriorly 

 into a rather shortish somewhat twisted and scarcely 

 recurved beak, is gradual but very convex. Nearly one 

 half of the ventral surface is filled by the aperture, which 

 is of an oblong-oval form, that is produced below into a 

 canal, which is usually somewhat curved, rarely quite 

 straight, and almost as long as the more open portion. 

 The throat is smooth, and does not depart from the 

 external colouring. A short but strongly marked sinus 

 distinguishes the posterior extremity of the projecting and 



