72 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



In the Cretaceous of India R. (Fulgorarid) elongata (Orbigny) Stoliczka 

 and niultistriata Stol. should be placed here, also R. (Fasciolarid) rigida 

 Bailey, R. (F.) carnatica Stol. and R. (F.) assimilis Stol. I am also of the 

 opinion that Ficulopsis pondicherriensis of Forbes, figured by Stoliczka, is a 

 species of this genus in which the spire is very greatly shortened, and that the 

 pyriform shape has no special significance. It is dangerous to base opinions 

 on figures, however good, or I should be tempted to include in this list several 

 of Stoliczka's Lyrias and Volutilithes. His Gosavia indica, though a mere 

 fragment, has the external sculpture of Rostellitcs, and the Pleurotomoid notch 

 is no greater than appears in many of the earlier VobitidcB, including several 

 species of Rostellitcs. 



In the Cretaceous of Europe are several forms which should be referred 

 to Rostellites, such as Pleiirotoma spinosa Sowerby (Gosau), Volntodenna fenes- 

 trata (A. Rom.) Holzapfel, V. Zitteliana and V. Gosseleti Holzapfel (Aachen). 

 The relations of such species as " Volutilithes " siibsemiplicata Orbigny to this 

 group are worth investigating. 



The genus Rostellites is characterized by a usually thick shell with a ten- 

 dency to cancellated sculpture of distant narrow ridges, more or less nodose 

 at the intersections; by an acute apex and trochoid, minute nucleus; by a 

 tendency to a notch or sulcus in the outer lip near the suture ; and by the 

 presence of several well-differentiated plaits on the pillar. A few species are 

 thin and the form is extremely variable. The surface is not glazed, the pillar 

 is nearly straight, and the incremental lines are conspicuous. 



Holzapfel (Zitt. Paleont. xxxiv. p. 87, 1888) has discussed the relations of 

 the group, which he refers to the Pleurotomida. But, since the publication of 

 his paper, I have been able to examine the soft parts of Aurinia dubia, with 

 the result of showing conclusively that the notch which is more or less 

 general in Volutidce and Harpidce is not functionally homologous with that of 

 the Pleurotomidce. In the latter it allows the anal dejections to escape without 

 fouling the water by passing in front of the gills. In Harpa and in Aurinia 

 it gives passage merely to a fold of the mantle by whose periodical expansion 

 the glaze which covers the spire is deposited on the outside of the shell. 

 Aurinia presents many points of resemblance to the groups of Voliitoniorpha 

 and Rostellites. The spire is glazed, the pillar is remarkably straight, the plaits 

 are few, the whole surface is sculptured. In the recent Volutilithes Philippiana 

 from the Pacific off the coast of southern Chile, there is a slight posterior un- 

 dulation which is quite as prominent as that of some species of Rostellites. 

 Though Rostellites, as far as known, exhibits no glaze, the extremely closely 

 related Volutomorpha is very much glazed over, and has a more prominent 

 notch, while in Liopeplum the glaze is still more profuse and the notch or sinus 

 is distinct. In Vobitilithes petrosa the sinus is as strong as in many Pleuro- 

 toniida, and the glaze is often so massed up as to practically amount to a de- 

 formity. It is evident, therefore, that we are not obliged to regard Rostellites 

 as in any way connected with the Toxoglossa. 



