MUSEUM 0¥ COMPAIIATIVE ZOOLOGY. 157 



indexed by me in the "List of Marine Mollusca," Some species have been 

 wron^'ly referred to this fauna, sucli as exilis Reeve, and tiarella Lamarck, 

 through erroneous identifications or label.s. Some species have been so poorly 

 described that no identification is possible, such as oMiquata Lanu (perhaps a 

 variety of nodulosa) and ex'ujua C. B. Adams. M. interpunctata Carpenter, I 

 find catalogued by Morch in Poulsen's list ; but I can find no other reference 

 to it, or any description anywhere, so I suppose it to be unpublished. 



There can be no question that the group, generally called by the untenable 

 name of Twricula, Klein, is entitled to be generically separated from the true 

 Mitras ; but being unable to procure the soft parts of the species which I have 

 for study, I prefer for the present to retain them under the general name of 

 Mitra, even when the contour is that of species known to be Turriculate, since 

 the form of the shell in this matter is far from decisive. 



There are but two common species of Miira in the West Indies ; namely, 

 M. nodulosa Gmelin (nucleola Krebs, obliquata Pfr., granulosa Brugiere, La- 

 marck, and the majority of authors) and M. barbadensis Gmel. {striatula La- 

 marck, tessellata Kiener, picta Beeve, and perhaps coeligena (Rve.?) Krebs). 

 Neither of these was obtained by the Blake, and both are usually seen in a 

 more or less worn or rolled condition. There is a close connection between 

 Mitra lens of the western coast of America and M. nodulosa ; the character- 

 istic pits may frequently be seen in undoubted nodulosa. There is a variety, 

 referred to M. lens, by the name of Dupontii Kiener, which is said to come 

 from the Red Sea, a locality which Tryon and others have doubted. It may 

 be erroneous, but there is nothing a priori unlikely in it ; as I have a speci- 

 men half-way from nodulosa to lens which every one would say was an imma- 

 ture lens if it came from Panama ; and it is well known how Red Sea species 

 are constantly turning up about the West Indies, especially those from rather 

 deep water. 



Other ancient species which are certainly West Indian are M. sulcata 

 Gmelin (microzonias Lam., monilifera C. B. Adams), and its variety cavea 

 Reeve ; M. dermestina Lamarck (of which speciosa, pulchella, and histrio, Reeve, 

 are mere variations) and ebenus Lamarck, which I have also under the names 

 of M. chelonia Reeve and M. nitilina Duclos. M. semicostata Anton, I have 

 not seen, but from the figure it might be a ribbed variety of ebenus. Of more 

 lately described species we have M. albocincta C. B. Adams, a good species 

 (miscalled M. albicostata Ad. in my list of " Hemphill's Shells "), which on a 

 very dwarfish scale recalls M. sulcata, and is a native of the Florida Keys and 

 Cuban waters ; M. puella Reeve, Florida and the Antilles (alveolus Reeve is 

 perhaps synonymous) ; M. Candida Reeve (of which straminea A. Adams, may 

 be an elongated variety) ; M. Hanleyi Dohrn (1862), not of Sowerby (1874) 

 nor Hanleyayia Dunker (1877); this is a pale and delicately marbled species, 

 varying from nearly pure white to mottled gray with dark columella, and 

 which has a nearly black variety with white ribs that has received the name of 

 M. gemmata from Sowerby. The difficulty attending the generic determina- 

 tion of these small shells in the absence of the soft parts ia illustrated by the 



