142 THE NAUTILUS. 



and enters somewhat beyond the palatal callus ; but it differs by the 

 distinctly bifid parietal tooth. The very strong crest behind the lip 

 is characteristic of B. agna. Like the related forms, this species has 

 the somewhat translucent whiteness of spermaceti or paraffin. 



In the specimen from Kansas the teeth are somewhat smaller than 

 in the type. It may be less mature. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Editor Nautilus : I have to thank Mr. Burnett Smith for his ex- 

 tended review of my paper on American Volutidse in the March 

 Nautilus. There are, however, a few points on which further 

 light is desirable, and I wish to note them briefly. 



1. So far from this being the general revision of the family upon 

 which I have been for some time at work the recent publication is 

 only a small part of it, which I thought I had made clear in my 

 remarks on page 341. My regret at not being able to illustrate the 

 paper is quite as great as that of my reviewer, but only those cog- 

 nizant of the facts know, since we lost Dr. McConnell, how many 

 fruitless, or almost fruitless, efforts have been made to obtain a com- 

 petent draughtsman. An important paper has been for more than a 

 year at a complete standstill, owing to the absence of an artist who 

 could do the drawings. 



2. I pointed out in 1890 the identity of the so-called Athleta 

 tuomeyi with Volutilithes petrosa Conrad, and ascribed the deformity 

 to some special conditions of the environment. We have some two 

 thousand specimens in the National Museum, a part of which are 

 normal. But while the most conspicuously deformed specimens are 

 from Wood's Bluff and the lower Eocene generally, we have also 

 distorted forms from Jackson, Miss., and several other Jacksonian 

 localities, and one specimen from the Claibornes ands. These I shall 

 be happy to show Mr. Smith if he can pay us a visit. 



That the true Athleta rarispina bears any such relation to Voluta 

 spinosa Lam. as V. tuomeyi does to petrosa is impossible, for Mr. 

 Smith's suggestion is incompatible with the fact that A. rarispina is 

 confined to the upper Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene of Europe, 

 while V- spinosa is restricted to middle Eocene (Calcaire Grossiere). 

 There is no species contemporaneous with the Athleta which could 

 take the place of V- spinosa in such a relation, and, further, the two 

 species of Athleta are normal and not abnormal shells. 



