92 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



While I have no doubt in my own mind that Valuta, Scaphclla, Turbinella, 

 Fasciolaria, Mitra and the Fusidce all proceeded from one stock and could not 

 be separated as families in the Eocene time, yet that does not exclude the 

 recognition of the divergencies which have been brought about at the present 

 epoch, by gradual evolution, from more compact original groups. 



I do not know which of the two species named Mitra lineolata irt 1887, 

 was published first, but, judging by the _figur.es, Bellardi's species have but a 

 feeble systematic value, and in some cases hardly rise above the rank of in- 

 dividual mutations. 



Mitra ■wandoensis Holmes. 

 Volulomiii-a wandoensis Holmes, Post-Plioc. Foss. S. Car., p. 77, pi. x. figs. 10, 10 a, i860. 

 ? Pyramidella reticulata (sic) Emmons, Rep. N. Car. Gaol. Sur., p. 268, fig. 155, 1858. 

 f Mitra Rustiii Dall, Conch. Exchange, vol. ii. p. 9, 1887. Report on Blake Gastr. Mus. 



C. Z., Bull. vol. xviii. p. 160, 1889. 



Post-Pliocene marls of Wando River, South Carolina, Dr. Ravenel. 

 Caloosahatchie beds. ? Miocene, North Carolina, Emmons. 



The figure given by Holmes is very woolly and not sufficient by itself to 

 identify the species. The specimen on which it was founded is in the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History, New York. It appears to be considerably 

 worn and shows two evident plaits on the columella and the suspicion of a 

 third plait. The recent shell, collected by Dr. Rush and also by the U. S. 

 Fish Commission and named by me Mitra Riishii, would appear to be the 

 perfect state of a very similar, if not identical, species. The recent shell is of 

 a fine dark reddish brown, with about thirty narrow, smooth, concavely 

 arched, close-set ribs, extending well over the whorl. Between them are 

 visible numerous equal, rounded spiral threads with nearly equal interspaces. 

 The threads are only visible between the ribs, and the short, deep interspaces, 

 thus reticulated, when the ribs are worn, appear like punctures. The canal is 

 short, with four or five strong spiral grooves externally, the anterior grooves 

 deepest. There are three plaits. The nucleus is large, rather inflated, smooth 

 and brilliantly polished. The suture is distinct, but not strongly emphasized. 



I have but one specimen from the Caloosahatchie beds, but it is abundant 

 in the recent state from the vicinity of Cape Hatteras, southward to the Gulf 

 of Mexico, in from 12 to 60 fathoms, gravelly bottom. There is little doubt 

 that Emmons' figure and description were intended for this species, but the 

 specific name reticulata was already preoccupied in this genus. 



Mitra Holmesii n. s. 

 Plate 3, figure 11. 

 Shell small, resembling M. wandoensis Holmes, in a general way, but dif- 

 fering from that species in its more slender whorls and flattened sides, in having 

 16-18 transverse, nearly straight ribs, instead of 28-30 curved ones; in its 



