PLEUROTOMA. 389 



short, cylindrical, and diverging, with blunt tips; they are 

 somewhat curved and resemble the prongs of a dung-fork : 

 eyes none, nor any eye-stalks : foot long and slender, truncated 

 in front, and obtuse-angled behind ; sole broad : verge falcate, 

 on the right hand : [odontopJiore composed of thin and some- 

 what curved spine-shaped pleurae, with a large head which is 

 excavated or gapes on the lower side. (Loven.)] 



SHELL elegantly spindle-shaped, attenuated towards each 

 end, the axis or greater diameter being nearer the base and 

 formed of the upper portion of the body-whorl ; it is of a deli- 

 cate and rather thin texture, semi transparent, and not glossy : 

 sculpture, numerous oblique longitudinal ribs, which are plait- 

 like and slight on the lower two whorls (nearly wanting on the 

 last), more prominent and nodulous on the upper whorls ; they 

 neither extend to the base nor to the suture, and occupy only 

 the middle portion of each whorl ; the whole surface (except 

 the apex, which is quite smooth and glossy) is covered with 

 fine and close-set spiral striae, some of which on the body- 

 whorl alternate in size ; lines of growth microscopic and flex- 

 uous ; colour uniform milk-white : spire gradually tapering to 

 a blunt point : whorls 10, convex, somewhat angulated in the 

 middle, and compressed or slightly excavated below the suture ; 

 the last whorl occupies about one-half of the shell: suture 

 shallow : mouth of an irregular shape, long and narrow, acute- 

 angled above; length nearly one-third of the shell: canal 

 rather short, but slender, very wide and open, bending a little 

 to the left, and ending in an obliquely curved notch : outer lip 

 rounded from the labial notch to the base, with a thin and 

 even edge : labial notch broad, deep, and remarkably distinct ; 

 it is placed considerably below the junction of the outer lip 

 with the periphery: inner lip consisting of a thin glaze or 

 polish, which is spread over the pillar ; its limit is coextensive 

 with the outer lip : pillar broad and flexuous : operculum pear- 

 shaped, having the point or nucleus at the base on the inner 

 side ; it is rather small, ambercolour, and marked with ellip- 

 tical lines of increase, like the valves of a Pinna. L. O85. 

 B. 0-25. 



HABITAT : Fine muddy sand, east of Shetland,, in 78 f. : 

 apparently very rare ; for several dredging- voyages which 

 I have made in these seas yielded only one live and three 

 dead specimens. Its discoverer, Professor Loven, re- 



