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NEW MOLLUSKS OF THE FAMILY TURRITIDAE 



By PAUL BARTSCH 



Curator, Division of Mollusks and Cenosoic Invertebrates, 



U.S. National Museum 



(With Eight Plates) 



The first Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition devoted its 

 attention to the great deep of the Atlantic — the Puerto Rican Deep, a 

 region faunally decidedly unexplored. The reason why this has been 

 so becomes quite evident to the investigator making the attempt, for 

 during our entire work there, which extended from January 30 to 

 March 9, 1933, we encountered but 2 days of calm sea. The fact 

 that we were able to work at all times was due to the large size of the 

 Caroline, which has a length over all of 279 feet 10 inches, a beam of 

 38 feet, depth of hull 27 feet, draft 17^ feet, and also to the fact that 

 she carries a 50-ton Sperry gyro-stabilizer, which keeps the yacht al- 

 most on an even keel at all times. 



Most of the 109 stations covered during our cruise yielded mollusks, 

 many of them members of the family Turritidae. 



Almost all of the stations were on very rough bottom, and this was 

 particularly true of those in the Mona Island Passage. Probably the 

 most interesting haul was at station 92, which is near the place where 

 the Challenger made her famous haul at her station 24, March 25, 1873. 

 This was one of the four richest hauls made by the Challenger on her 

 whole cruise. Our stations 36, 91, 93, 94, and 95 surround this Chal- 

 lenger station. 



We have always felt the lack of types or topotypes of the numerous 

 mollusks described by Watson from this station, and our hauls sup- 

 plied these. 



The National Museum is exceedingly rich in West Indian mollusks, 

 having the large collections obtained by government investigators and 

 many specimens acquired through private donations. It is therefore 

 possible with this splendid material to subject our catch to a critical 

 review. 



The family Turritidae has for some time been a troublesome group 

 whose genera have been variously interpreted by diflFerent authors. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 91, No, 2 



