138 NEW-YORK FAUNA — MOLLUSCA. 



GENUS CANCELLARIA. Lamarck. 



Animal with a large head, and resembling that of Purpura. Shell solid, oval or globular, 

 cancellated. Spire little elevated, pointed. Aperture semioval, notched or subcanaliculate 

 at the base. Canal very short, almost none. Columella nearly straight, with prominent 

 plaits or folds varying in number, usually transverse : lip internally furrowed. Opercle 

 horny. 



Cancellaria couthouyi. 



PLATE VII. FIG. 160. 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Cancellaria bucciiwules. Couthocy, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2, p. 105, pi. 3, fig. 3. 

 C. couthouyi. Jay, Cat. Gould, Inrertebrata of Mass. p. 283, fig. 190. 



Description. Shell ovate-conic, subturreted ; apex acute. Whorls five to seven, convex, 

 flattened above, reticulated, with transverse furrows, and plaited longitudinally, these plaits 

 becoming occasionally distinct elevated folds : suture distinct and deep. Body-whorl forming 

 two-thirds of the total length, and ventricose. Aperture oval, half the total length, effuse at 

 the base, and subcanaliculate. Lip thin, acute, slightly crenulate on the inner edge ; the internal 

 striae indistinct. Columella arched, with three oblique folds ; the central one somewhat 

 longest. A callus, more or less distinct, on the body-whorl. 



Color. Epidermis thin, olivaceous ; under which the shell is opake white. 



Length, 0'55; of aperture, 0-35. 



Mr. Couthouy, the original describer of this species, was not aware that the same specific 

 name had been applied by Mr. Sowerby to a Cancellaria from the Pacific ocean. Hence the 

 present name, which, although implying a merited compliment, is, as Dr. Gould observes, in 

 conformity with a bad custom. It is an arctic species, and hence it is not probable will be 

 found along our shores, except under the same circumstances in which it occurs on the coast 

 of Massachusetts, viz. in the stomachs of fishes. In the specimens to which I have had 

 access, the strong folds on the whorls are not so distinctly elevated as in the figure and de- 

 scription of Mr. Couthouy. According to the same writer, the lip has no internal striae ; but 

 they were observed by me, although indistinct. 



