142 SYCOTYPUS. 



readily distinguished by the above characters and by its narrower, 

 more elongated form, long canal, etc. The coloring is usually 

 quite vivid in young specimens, and is frequently interrupted by 

 the interposition of a median, broad, white, revolving band. 



Length, 6-12 inches. 



Florida. 



Has been united with F. carica by several authors, and I am 

 not nearly so certain as I once was that it is distinct ; it is pos- 

 sibly only a variet}-, yet it does not seem to merge into the 

 carica form. Pyrula coarctatus, Sowerby (fig. 393), said to occur 

 in Florida, is this species, almost certainh*. 



Subgenus Sycotypus (Browne) Gill. 



I do not consider Browne's description sufficiently characteris- 

 tic to meet the requirements of a diagnosis ; moreover, these 

 shells are not even now known to inhabit Jamaica. Grill's diag- 

 nosis is, of course, accurate and exhaustive ; but it mainly repeats 

 the characters of Fulgur : the real difference is in the canalicu- 

 lated sutures and ciliated periostracum. The distinction of 

 "spinous" for Busy con or Fulgur, and " tuberculated " for 

 Sycotypus is of little importance generically, as the Fulgurs & 

 frequently only tuberculate when young and become spinous 

 with advancing age ; moreover, the miocene series serve to con- 

 nect the two groups in this respect. Under these circumstances 

 I judge it better to make Sycotypus a subgenus only, under 

 Fulgur. 



Mr. T. A. Conrad* attempts to distinguish the embryos of 

 Sycotypus from those of Fulgur by the latter having a long fissure 

 parallel with the columella, whilst the columellar region of the 

 former is entire. Mr. Conrad's specimens, which are before me, 

 and which I saw him extract from the pouches, certainly show 

 this difference, but I have since had occasion to examine the 

 embryos of Fulgur several times, and from different strings of 

 pouches, none of which show the slit columella : the character was 

 probably pathological. 



* Am. Jour. Conch. Ill, 182. 



