DALL] REVIEW OF AMERICAN VOLUTIDZ. 365 
in the Chilean strata, they are represented by such forms as Voluta 
triplicata Sowerby, V. gracilis Philippi, and V. domeykoana Philippi. 
With these are VY. alta Sowerby, which at once suggests itself as a 
possible ancestor for Tractolira and V. obesa Philippi, which sug- 
gests Adelomelon. At any rate, this group has a recent rep- 
resentative which is conchologically so close to the fossils that its 
relationship may warrantably be assumed. ‘This is the following 
species, for which we may propose a section to include itself and the 
related fossils. 
Section M1iometLon Dall, nov. 
Shell with rather elevated spire, somewhat excavated in front of 
the suture, with more or less obvious axial ribbing and spiral stria- 
tion; a delicate periostracum, the canal rather straight; the pillar 
with few rather slender plaits, the anterior larger; the animal has 
no operculum, the verge is situated just behind the right tentacle, 
small, clavate, with a smaller conical distal appendix; the radula 
has a single series of teeth, each with three subequal tusk-like cusps. 
Type Volutilithes philippiana Dall, 1889. 
The type is blind, but this may be exceptional and due to its 
abyssal habitat. The fossil species will be A. triplicata Sowerby, 
A. domeykoana Philippi, and A. gracilior Ihering (new name for 
Voluta gracilis Philippi, 1887, not of Lea, 1833) ; and perhaps also 
Voluta D’Orbignyana Philippi. It is distinctly a localized group 
proper to the south coast of South America, both recent and fossil. 
ADELOMELON (MIOMELON) PHILIPPIANA Dall 
Volutilithes philippiana Datu, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xu, p. 313, pl. 1x, 
fig. 4, 1889. 
Dredged by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross off 
the southwest coast of Chile, at station 2791, S. Lat. 38° o8 and 
W. Lon. 75° 53’, in 677 fathoms, mud, bottom temperature 37.9° 
Fahr. 
Veac Nat. \husso7, 12: 
The shell is 36.5 mm. in length and but a single specimen was 
obtained. The nucleus was eroded so that its exact character re- 
mains in doubt. 
Genus TRACTOLIRA Dall 
Tractolira Datu, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii1, no. 1034, p. 12, 1895; type 
7. sparta Wall, fc. pr 3; 
The dentition of this peculiar and apparently degenerate abyssal 
form is marked by the same tusk-like cusps which are found in 
Miomelon, and therefore, while the erosion of the apex of the shell 
