Miscellan^us. 159 



Orca stenorhyncha {the Narrow-nosed Killer). 



p 

 I described a new Orca or Killer from a skeleton received by tbe 



British Museum from Weymouth. The skull is figured in the ' Suppl. 

 Cat. Seals and Whales,' pp. 80-88, figs. 7-0. 



The authorities at the Zoologiska Riks-Muscum at Stockholm have 

 sent to the British Museum three large photographs of an animal 

 which they have determined to be this species, and which was 

 taken at Bohuslan in November 1871, showing that it is coloured 

 like the other Killers, and that it (like Orca latirostris) is an in- 

 habitant of the north seas, — J. E. Gkay. 



Preliminary Descriptions of new Species of Molluslcs from the North- 

 west coast of America. By W. H. Ball, U. S. Coast Survey. 



Voluta (Scaphella) Stearnsii, DalL— Shell large, slender, spindle- 

 shaped, moderately thick ; colour livid purple, more or less obscured 

 by an ashy-white outer layer, more conspicuous near the sutures and 

 on the callosity of the inner lip ; exterior smooth (but not polished), 

 except for the strong lines of increase ; sutures appressed ; siphonal 

 fasciole strong ; nucleus small, white, mammillated ; aperture more 

 than half as long as the shell, white and livid purple, with a dash of 

 brighter purple at the posterior notch and on the anterior portion of 

 the callus ; edge white ; callus reflected, thick and strong, with a 

 chink behind the anterior portion ; canal twisted to the right, 

 moderately deep ; whorls 6-8. Long. 4-13 in., lat. 1*62 in., long, 

 apert. 2-o9 in. ; defl. 40°. Living, from stomach of cod, Shumagin 

 Islands ; dead on beach, Gull rocks, Akutan Pass, and west side of 

 Amaknak Island, Captain's Bay, Uualashka. 



Nacella (?) rosea, Dall. — Shell small, egg-ovate, of a deep rose- 

 colour, externally smooth, except for very faint radiating ridges 

 divaricating from the apex, and for lines of growth ; margin eutire ; 

 apex minute, produced before the anterior margin ; interior smooth, 

 white, except the margins, which are polished and of the same colour 

 as the exterior ; nacre, especially when weathered, silvery. Long. 

 •35 in., lat. -27 in., alt. -12 in., of largest specimen. 



Dead on beach, east side of Simeonofi:' Island, Shumagins ; living, 

 probably on Fuci, off shore. 



This, from its appearance, is jirobably a true Nacella, congeneric 

 with the Cape-Horn species, and the first described from the northern 

 hemisphere. Its occurrence with that of several other mollusks in 

 the Aleutian fauna is remarkable ; and the facts, on ftirther inspec- 

 tion, have developed a considerable resemblance between these an- 

 tipodal faunae. 



Litfnrina aleut'ica, Dall. — Shell depressed ; whorls 4, the nucleus 

 inchiding one and a half, last whorl much the largest ; spire depressed 

 or nearly flattened ; colour variable, from dark brown or purple to 

 waxen white, or banded with white on a darker ground ; nucleus 

 polished, dark brown, translucent ; sculpture consisting of rather 



