36 AMERICAN MARINE CONCHOLOGY. 



It is a very 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 only 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. lapillus, Linnaeus. Figs. 56, 51. 



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



Shell ovate, thick and solid ; 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 horny, oval. Color from white, 

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

 white band. 



Length 31, diam. 17 mill. 



Inhabits rocky shores. It is a very variable species in coloration 

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

 Entire Coast, Greenland to Florida. (Europe.) 



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



tfourn. Philad. 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, indistinctly 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. 



