l66 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. C), NO. 6, APRIL, 1899. 



Turritella Lm. — The Rev. Boog Watson, writing on this genus in 

 the 'Challenger' Report, says it has " two remarkable features which do 

 not seem to have been noticed ; the first is the system of microscopic 

 spirals which covers the entire shell, and the second is the presence of 

 an epidermis"; and he adds that " hardly sufficient importance seems 

 given to the sinuation of the outer lip, which is a feature quite as dis- 

 tinctly marked as in Pleurotoma." The outer lip is very thin and 

 brittle, and frequently imperfect, which is probably the reason why 

 neither Jeffreys' nor Sowerby's figures exhibit the peculiar sinuation 

 indicated by Dr. Watson ; but it is obvious in a perfect adult specimen. 



T. terebra var. nivea Jeffr. — Scilly (Smart and others); Pen- 

 zance (Tregelles); Aberdeenshire (Simpson) ! Torbay, 12 f. ; Dogger- 

 bank, 30 f. 



Var. gracilis Jeffr. — Milford Haven (Span) ! Aberdeenshire (Simp- 

 son) ! Torbay ; Pembrokeshire coast ; Doggerbank, 30 f. ; Loch 

 Boisdale, 30 f. An intermediate form is not uncommon. 



Mr. Clark has given some very interesting details of the animal of 

 Turritella in his work, in which he says it is "one of the shyest of the 

 Gasteropoda ; its locomotion is unknown to me. I have examined 

 hundreds for hours, and never even saw it turn from one side to the 



other It never protrudes the head when immersed, but 



entrenches itself within the operculum I must, therefore, 



for the present presume that they have scarcely the power of motion, 

 and though perhaps not bodily fixed, as in Vermetus, they are virtually 

 so." Its inaptitude for motion arises from the- shortness of the foot, 

 and not from the length of the shell, as in other animals with elong- 

 ated shells the progression is sufficiently active. He also adds — 

 " The shell is singular in not having longitudinal ribs or varices, and 

 in this respect is, I believe, only resembled by the Aclis ascaris and 

 Murex (Defrancia) teres" 1 Aclis supranitida, however, must be 

 added to the foregoing. 



The egg-capsules are lodged on the whorls of the shell, singly or in 

 small groups ; they are oval in shape, with a small orifice at one end, 

 and are attached by a short stalk. The lower whorls of the shell are 

 invariably more loosely coiled than the upper. The Rev. R. W. J. 

 Smart has observed Odostomia pallida lodged on the opercula of speci- 

 mens dredged in the Shetlands. 2 It would be interesting to know if 

 this occurs elsewhere, but the Odostomia can only be found by break- 

 ing back the shell of the Turritella, as the animal retires considerably 

 within it. It also affords a home outwardly for a variety of Calyp- 

 trtza chinensis, already noticed. 



1 Brit. Mar. Test. Moll., p. 332-333, 1855. 



2 New habitat for Odostomia pallida, J. Conch., vol. 5, p. 152, 1887. 



