MUSEUM OF COMPAKATIVE ZOOLOGY. 237 



In this connection it may be observed that S. spelta, whicli is tlie common 

 Mediterranean form, when younj^ does not a[)pear to resemble the shell figured 

 by Risso, whicli has by many naturalists been taken to be the young of it. 

 His S. nicel'iisis seems to me to be a species more like S. lanceolala. His 

 .S. purpurea also, as represented in the VVeinkaulf collection, contained in that 

 of Jeffreys now in the National Museum, is a distinct and different shell from 

 the young of the purple variety of ^S". spelta L. (not lleeve & Sby.) which has 

 commonly been so referred. I do not find the genuine S. purpurea of Risso 

 figured in the monographs, or at least the shell so identified by Weinkauff and 

 which is a native of the Mediterranean. 



The only other member of this family from this region so far known is 

 the Amphiperas (^UUimus) gibbosus Linne, which is common. The animal has 

 the sides of the mantle enveloping the shell and is very gaudy, being of a sal- 

 mon or golden yellow with large black circles and fine black dots scattered 

 over it. It is found on corals and Gorgonias from Florida to Jamaica, and prob- 

 ably throughout the Antilles. It varies much in size, relative proportions, 

 and brilliancy of color. The color of the brightest specimens will fade very 

 much in a few years, even when kept in the dark. Fresh specimens are of a 

 charming orange-color. 



A specimen of Amphiperas aperta Sby. is in the collection of the National 

 Museum from Barbados, and A. birostris Linne, which Try on regards as the 

 adult form of aperta, was recorded from Cuba, in 1840, by Pfeiffer. I feel 

 some doubt as to these specimens, and suspect they may be imported, but it is 

 possible this shell does exist in the Antilles. 



The British species, Ovula patula of authors, has a larval shell similar to the 

 one described under Simnia uniplicata, but it is smaller and shorter, with a 

 smooth whitish globular nucleus. 



Genus PEDICULARIA Swainson. 

 Pedicularia decussata Gould. 



Plate XIX. Figs. 9 a-b. 



Pedicularia albida Dall, Bull. M. C. Z., IX. p. 39, 1881. 



Pedicularia decussata Gould, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat Hist., V. p. 127, 1855* Otia, 

 p. 215, 1862. 



Habitat. Barbados, Hassler Exp., 100 fras. Off Havana, Sigsbee, 450 

 fms., on Solenosmilia variabilis Dum. fide Pourtales. Yucatan Strait, 640 fms. 

 U. S. Fish Commission Stations 2342, off Havana, Cuba, in 201 fms., coral, 

 and 2416, off the coast of Georgia, in 27 fms., coral, bottom temperature 

 53°.8 F. Off Georgia and Florida in 400 fms., Gould. 



When I described this species its characters did not seem in accord with the 



