call] new species of shells 141 



Korea, in from 42 to 406 fathoms. The maximum dimensions 

 noticed are 125 by 50 mm. 



BUCCINUM LEUCOSTOMA Lischke 



Buccinum leucostoma Lischke. Jap. Meeres Conchyl., in, p. 3S, pi. 1. figs. 

 7, 8, 1875. 



This handsome species is also rather frequently obtained, especially 

 in Yeddo Bay and on the eastern shores of Nippon. Its dimensions 

 when full-grown may attain 120 by 50 mm., and it has been dredged 

 from as deep as 129 fathoms. The following form, notwithstanding 

 the great difference in dimensions, except at the aperture, almost 

 exactly reproduces this species. 



BUCCINUM ZELOTES Dall, n. sp. 



Shell small, slender, acute, solid, with two smooth nuclear and 

 eight turgid, strongly sculptured subsequent whorls ; suture strongly 

 constricted but not channeled ; spiral sculpture of three strong ridges 

 on the convexity of the whorl, articulated with white and reddish 

 brown, a smaller one between the posterior ridge and the suture and 

 another, anterior, on which the suture is laid ; base with one more 

 small ridge ; in the interspaces are still smaller tertiary sharply cut 

 threads, which also cover the base, and the whole is microscopically 

 sharply striate ; the axial 1 sculpture is composed of small but distinct 



1 A term for indicating the direction of the sculpture which crosses the 

 whorls in general harmony with the axis of a spiral shell, in contrast with 

 that which follows the coil, has long been needed. The latter is generally and 

 appropriately termed "spiral." The former has been called "transverse/* mean- 

 ing transverse to the line of coil, but not transverse to the axis ; and "longi- 

 tudinal," a term which has also been used as synonymous with "spiral." Both of 

 these terms are ambiguous. "Vertical" has sometimes been used, but when the 

 sculpture in question is sinuous or oblique, it sounds disagreeably like a con- 

 tradiction in terms. Some years ago I proposed to use the term "axial" for 

 this sculpture, though in many cases it does not mathematically coincide with 

 the axis of revolution; yet it seemed appropriate, brief, and comprehensible. 

 If, however, anything less liable to miscomprehension, and in general more 

 suitable, can be suggested, I shall be glad to adopt it. It should be remem- 

 bered, in considering the subject, that the axis is not always vertical, and that 

 vertical is an absolute term ; vertical sculpture cannot logically be oblique, 

 sinuous, or arcuate, while an axis may be either, as, for instance, in Streptaxis 

 or some Eulimas. 



For the direction of axial ribbing or other sculpture which is not strictly 

 parallel to a vertical axis, concise terms are also needed to indicate whether 

 the ribs slant forward from the summit of the whorls at the preceding suture, 

 which might be called protractive, or backward, for which the term retractive 

 might be used. Ribbing at right angles to the suture would naturally be called 

 paraxial or vertical, as might be most appropriate to the special case. 



