484 MR. R. J. li. GUPPY ON A SPECIMEN [NoV. 3, 



immature fish, as the specimen now under notice is not more than 

 three feet in length. It is also to be noted that the pectoral fins 

 are silvery, and the anal and broken caudal fins silvery tinged with 

 red ; that the first ray of the dorsal fin, apparently complete, is 

 acutely pointed, 5| inches in length, and but very slightly curved 

 backward ; and that the pupil of the eye is not round but oval 

 longitudinally, as shown in the figures oi L.fiski, Gth.r. (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1890, pis. xix., XX.), but with a slight downward inclination 

 anteriorly. The minute ventral fins are distinctly five-rayed. The 

 depth of the body not far from the head is five inches and three- 

 quarters, but its stoutest part in the same place, along the dorsal line, 

 is rather less than half an inch in thickness. 



Dr. Giinther {loc. cit. p. 245) suggests that L. capellei, Schleg., 

 and L. cristatus, Johns., may possibly be conspecific with L. cepedi- 

 anus, and in that case the latter would be recorded as having 

 occurred in the Mediterranean, off Madeira, and in the Japanese 

 Sea ; while its discovery now at the Cape of Good Hope will supply 

 a further proof of its wide oceanic range. It is interesting to find 

 both the type species of Lophotes and the very distinct L. Jiski 

 turning up in the same Bay within two years of each other. 



South-African Museum, Cape Town, 

 30th June, 1891. 



6. On a Specimen of Pleurotomaria from Tobago^ West 

 Indies. By R. J. Lechmere Guppy^ C.M.Z.S. 



[Eeceived October 28, 1891.] 



Among some shells placed in the Tobago Court at the Trinidad 

 and Tobago Exhibition of 1890, my attention was soon drawn to a 

 fine specimen of Pleurotomaria. On inquiry I found that the shell 

 was the property of a gentleman of Tobago, ofi" which island it had 

 been obtained. The original owner having died, I was unable to 

 obtain complete particulars respecting the acquisition of the shell, 

 which after some negotiation became my property. 



In an interesting paper by Henry Woodward, published in the 

 ' Geological Magazine ' for 1885, some particulars are given respect- 

 ing the fossil and recent species of the genus, of which 1 avail myself. 

 According to this author the number of fossil (extinct) species of 

 Pleurotomaria is 1156, of which 226 are British. The genus was 

 supposed to be entirely extinct until 1855, when the first living 

 example was found by M. Beau oif Mariegalante. This was described 

 by Fischer and Bernard! in the ' Journal de Conchyliologie ' for 

 1856 (p. 160, pi. V.) as PI. quoyana. This specimen, 45 milH- 

 metres in height, was in 1873 purchased by Miss de Burgh, of 

 London, for <£25 — a sum, as stated by the editors of the ' Journal de 

 Conchyliologie,' rather below than above the real value of so rare a 

 shell, of which, as stated by Woodward, only three examples are 

 known up to the present time. 



