MARGARITA, 281 



smooth spiral lines at uniform distances, and for the most part 

 alternately larger and smaller ; base considerably flattened, of a 

 lighter color, and with finer stride ; umbilicus broad, fun- j,j„ ^^^ 

 ncl-shapcd, distinctly bounded by a spiral line, and par- 

 tially covered by the reflected inner lip ; aperture nearly 

 circular, very oblique ; lip sharp, slightly jagged ; throat j,/. „^^ 

 pearly, with greenish and golden reflections ; operculum ^"'"' 

 thin, horny, multi-spiral. Height, three tenths of an inch ; base, 

 four tenths of an inch. 



Found in great numbers in the stomachs of fishes, and also alive 

 on Phillips's Beach. Mr. Sowerby received it from the Arctic Ocean. 

 Halifax ( Willis) ; Eastport ( Cooper) ; Cape Cod, northward ( Stimp- 

 soii). 



This beautiful shell cannot be mistaken for any other species on 

 the American Atlantic coast. Its color, its regular spiral lines, un- 

 dulated sutural region, and pearly aperture render it a very Ijeauti- 

 ful shell, having more of the aspect of a tropical than of a northern 

 shell. Mr. Sowerby's description and figure were published in the 

 same month in which Mr. Couthouy read his description to the 

 Boston Society of Natural History ; and we must, therefore, allow 

 his name the right of priority. 



There is considerable variety in the coloring ; the freshest young 

 shells are of a rose-red, and of a more depressed form ; the majority 

 are of a brownish-red ; the undulations are seldom, but sometimes 

 wanting. 



Margarita helicina. 



Fig. 173*. 



Shell orbicular, depressed, smooth and shininp:, translucent, of a light horn 

 color, with very fine revolving lines on the base ; aperture circular. 



Margarita arctica, Leach, in Ross's Voyage of Discovery, 8vo. 1819 ; Appenrlix. — Sow- 

 erby, Malaiol. and Conchol. Maij. part i. 25 ; Conchol. IHust. (Marfjarita), fig. 6. — 

 Gould, Inv. 1st cd. 255, fig. 173*. -De K.vy, N. Y. Moll. 108, pi. 6, fig. 107. 



Man/arita helicoides, Beck, MS. 



Turbo injlatus, Tottex, Sillim. Journ. xxvi. 368, figs. 5, a, h, c. 



Paliidiiia infldta, Menke. 



Turbo heliciiius, 0. Fabuicius. 



Margarita helicina, Stimpson, Clicck Lists, 4. 



Shell small, orbicular, dcj)ressed, thin, and translucent, smooth 

 and shining, of a light yellowish horn color or light olive ; whorls 

 four or five, very convex, the last very large and tumid, a little flat- 



