74 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



are three or more, weak and rather variable, somewhat as in ]'ohitilithes. The 

 sinus at the suture is notable, but not very wide. 



The plaits are preceded on the pillar by a thin mass of glaze which extends 

 over the well-marked siphonal fascicle, somewhat as in some Olivas, but with 

 less defined boundaries. The plaits are not well visible at the aperture and are 

 situated on the thickest part of this callus. 



These are very beautiful fossils, though poorly preserved in most cases, 

 and the genus seems to me valid. 



In Tryon's Manual of Structural and Systematic Conchology, pi. 54, fig. 

 31 of the second volume exhibits a copy of the figure of the Eocene Vobiti- 

 lithes riigatus of Conrad as a representation of Lioderma. This is due to an 

 error of the draughtsman. 



In 1854-5, Prof. M. Tuomey described briefly several species of Vohita 

 from Alabama. The types are supposed to be lost and the species were never 

 figured. V. cancellata Tuomey was probably a Rostellites. V. Spillmaiii 

 Tuomey was probably a Liopcpbim, and very likely one of the species unde- 

 scribed in our collection, which is small, with faint ribs on the spire and spiral 

 threads anteriorly in the young. V. jugosa Tuomey, having a preoccupied 

 specific name, was called V. subjiigosa by Gabb. It is probably the same as a 

 strongly ribbed Liopepbim in our collection. V. fusiforinis Tuomey {iion Sw.) 

 — V. Titomeyana Gabb was described from a cast and is unrecognizable. These 

 forms were probably obtained from the Ripley group, and were described in 

 the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences for 1854-5, 

 pp. 168, 169. I have figured what I suppose to be two of them, Plate 6, figs. 

 12, 12 a. 



Genus Volutilithes Swainson, 1831. 

 Plate 6, figures i, 3, 4. 

 Types Valuta spinosa Lam. and V. liictator Sby. There are no species of 

 this group in the Cretaceous of North America. This genus begins in the Cre- 

 taceous and reaches its maximum in the Eocene. To properly assort its mem- 

 bers would require much more time and material than at present are at my 

 command. It gradually decreases in number of species until only one typical 

 species {V. Philippiana Dall) and a second belonging to another section {V. 

 abyssicola Ad. & Reeve) are known in the living state. Both are found in 

 deep water, where they appear as remnants of a fauna mostly extinct in shal- 

 low water. The genus may be divided into subgenera as follows : 



Subgenus Volutilithes s. s. 

 Type V. spinosa Lamarck (PI. 6, fig. 3, young). 



Shells of small or moderate size, with a small trochoid nucleus, acute spire, 

 rather straight pillar, axially ribbed and transversely striated, with the ribs 

 more prominent ; plaits consisting usually of a stronger anterior and a num- 

 ber of smaller, not very regular, crowded, posterior ridges ; the outer lip is 



