84 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



Volutilithes precursor Dall. 

 Plate 6, figure i. 



Shell subfusiform, six-whorled ; nucleus small, spiral sculpture of the 

 usual threads near the canal anteriorl}^, fading away toward the periphery and 

 appearing again on and behind the shoulder ; transverse sculpture of twelve 

 or more rather rounded, not much elevated ribs, which, on the last whorl of 

 the adult, are a little sharper by having a long anterior and a short posterior 

 slope, which gives them a sort of flattened appearance ; they pass clear over 

 the shell and are sharpest at the periphery, while in most species of this group 

 in American rocks the ribs are most prominent on the shoulder and become 

 obsolete on the body ; suture appressed, the whorl in front a little constricted, 

 with a tendency to small, prickly points at the shoulder ; aperture narrow, 

 outer lip simple, thickened at the ribs, but not varicose, strongly lirate within ; 

 inner lip with a wash of callus anteriorly and two well-marked, subequal, clear- 

 cut, distant plaits ; canal a little constricted, nearly straight, deeply notched, 

 forming a fasciole. Max. Ion. of shell 28.0; of aperture 20.0; max. diam. 13.0 

 mm. A fragment indicates a length of aperture sometimes attained of 34.0 mm., 

 corresponding to a shell 47.6 mm. in length. 



The specimens are of Eocene age, the locality half a mile east from VVheelock, 

 Texas. 



This shell has been figured as showing the tendency toward the surface- 

 characters of Lyria and the slight conchological gap separating these forms. 

 Its nearest relative is V. rugatus Conrad, which is found in the same stratum, 

 and from which its sculpture distinguishes it with sufficient clearness. It will 

 be observed that the plaits are not crowded by callus, as is commonly the case 

 in this genus, and I may add that, in one specimen, a feeble third plait lags 

 behind the others within the shell. 



Lyria pulchella Sowerby. 

 Plate 4, figure 3. 

 Valuta pulchella Sby., Quart. Journ. GeoL Soc. Lond. vi. p. 46, pi. ix. fig. 4, 1850. 



Miocene of Santo Domingo and of the silex-beds at Ballast Point, Tampa 

 Bay, Florida. 



I obtained a single young specimen, distinctly of Sowerby 's species, near 

 Ballast Point. I regard it as quite distinct from the following species, if the 

 specimens observed have normal characters. 



Lyria zebra Heilprin. 

 Voluta {Lyrid) zebra Heilprin, Trans, Wagner Inst. i. p. no, pi. 15, fig. 46, 1887. Not 

 Valuta zebra Leach, Zool. Misc. i. pi. 12, fig. i, 1814 ; Sowerby, Thes. Conch, i. p. 195, pi. 



53, figs. 83, 84, 1847. 



Ballast Point silex-beds, Willcox, Burns and others. 



The young of this species run very close to L. harpida Lam., but the adults 

 are quite distinct. 



