206 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. I3, NO. 7, JULY, I9II. 



as far soulh as Portugal in 47of. (a young specimen). I have examples 

 from shallow water in the Faroe Isles, where it seems, however, to be 

 only partially established, and to be small and scarce. It is occasion- 

 ally brought into Aberdeen by fishing-boats from Iceland and the 

 Faroes (Simpson). i\.s a general rule, and comparing large series 

 with F. antiqi/us, F. despedus will be found to be appreciably longer 

 in the spire and shorter in the body-whorl, in some instances very 

 much so. The carinated sculpture is always present and conspicuous 

 in F. despedus^ and is a prominent feature of the shell ; it is only now 

 and again that a specimen with less prominent carinations approxi- 

 mates to one of F. antiquus var. carinata that is more than usually 

 carinated. Prof. G. O. Sars and Mr. E. A. Smith consider the 

 two forms distinct species, as to which I do not think there can 

 be much doubt. Miss Elliott's examples of var. caritmta in the 

 National Collections are as characteristic as any that may be found, 

 but these could never be mistaken for F. despedus ; while Sars' 

 figures are excellent representations of F. despedus, yet could not be 

 mistaken for the most extreme examples of var. carinata. The Rev. 

 Boog Watson writes with respect to F. despedus: — "The identity of 

 this species with F. antiquus is very strongly supported, and is an 

 opinion deserving the utmost respect. If it has not been followed 

 here, the reason is that though my opportunities for comparison have 

 been rather limited, I have an impression that the apex in the two 

 species is different. On this point I had hoped for fuller information 

 from Mr. Friele in his great work on the Mollusca of the Norwegian 

 Northern Expedition."^ But that work was not forthcoming at the 

 time. It has subsequently been published, and Herr Friele has figured 

 the apices of both F. despedus and F. antiquus, but his figures are 

 not convincing. I have an uninterrupted series of all ages of l:)Oth 

 species, and I must confess to finding the evidence negative, notwith- 

 standing that there is an unusual amount of individual variation in the 

 apex of both species. The most that can be said is that the extremes 

 of both forms nearly approximate ; but they are not singular in that 

 respect, nor would the mere presence or number of carinations in the 

 var. carinata, however closely resembling those of F. despedus, of 

 itself constitute that S]:)ecies. The extreme variability of these stria- 

 tions and carinations (hardly two specimens being alike) demonstrate 

 their varietal character. F. turioni has a correlative variety. 



F. norvegicus Chemn. — Great Fisher Bank, and from Aberdeen 

 trawlers (Simpson) ! None of the figures or descriptions of this species 

 indicate the presence of a large swollen excrescence on the upper part 

 of the pillar, just at the entrance of the aperture, which occurs in about 



1 'Challenger' Gastropoda, p. 199. 



