MARSHALL : ADDITIONS TO BRITISH CONCHOLOGY. 225 



var. turrita M. Sars. — Nortli Sea 74 f.; off the Shetlands in f; 

 midway between the Shetlands and Norway 59-73 f.; and North-East 

 Shetlands, several specimens from Aberdeen trawl-boats (Simpson) ! 

 Its dimensions are i^-in. by |-in., the apex is much more pointed 

 than in the type, and it is very rare on our Shetland coasts. One of 

 my specimens is almost smooth. Searles Wood figures a specimen 

 from the Red Crag (pi. ii. fig. 15) as what he considers "an abnormal 

 form ot F. propiftquiis." It is not very well executed, but fairly 

 represents this variety. Various misconceptions have centred round 

 the identity of this shell. The specimens ascribed to it by Mr. H. 

 K. Jordan^ are not of this variety, but small typical specimens. 

 Some writers prefer to consider it a variety of F. tortuosus, G. O. 

 Sars, and it is so described and figured by him, though from a poor 

 specimen minus the apex." The difference between Sars' var. turrita 

 and var. atteniiatus'' is not apparent, certainly not in the figures, and 

 I consider them the same thing ; while Gwyn Jeffreys held that F. 

 tortuosus G. O. Sars (non Reeve, which is F. sabini Gray) is another 

 variety of F. propinqtnis} However that may be, from my own speci- 

 mens I can easily graduate vars. turrita and attenuatus into typical 

 F. propinqjius, from which they do not differ in any particular except 

 that of proportion. Sars was mistaken in quoting/; attenuatus Jeff, as 

 a synonym of his var. attenuatus ; they have nothing in common ex- 

 cept the name. The latter, as well as tortuosus and turrita^ are 

 attenuated at each end, which gives them a cylindrical outline, 

 whereas F. attetiuatus Jeff, and F. consimilis Marsh, are attenuated 

 in the spire only, but have a short and broad base, which imparts a 

 conical outline in comparison with the others. The two latter are 

 also much larger shells, with a glossy surface and compressed whorls. 

 Canon Norman is also " inclined to add as a wider variety" F. 

 delicatus Jeff.,' but that again is quite distinct from F. propinquus or 

 any of its varieties, all its affinities (except size) being with F. sabini 

 Gray. 



var. laevis Marsh, n. var. — This is a small delicate form, with a 

 light, silky, polished epidermis, and the whorls partially or entirely 

 without the usual spiral sculpture. It corresponds with F. gracilis 

 var. glabra, but is still smoother than that variety, and comes from 

 the same British locality. 



As in the last three species, there is a broad as well as a slender 

 variety, the result of depth and habitat. It flourishes best on the 

 Doggerbank, where 1 have dredged it in comparative abundance and 



1 Journ. Conch., iSgo, vol. vi., p. 233. 



2 Moll. Reg. Arct. Norv., p. 272, t. 25, fig. 11 (printed 10 in error). 



3 Loc. cit., p. 273, t. 15, fig. s. 



4 MoH. Triton Exp., Proc. Zool. Soc, 1883, p. 395. 



5 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1899, p. 142. 



