366 KEY. E. BOOa WATSON" ON THE 



witli a short rounded base. Suture marginated, and this margin 

 tubercled. Mouth oval, open, bluntly pointed above. Outer lip 

 sharp on the edge, sparsely toothed, patulous, almost straight, 

 slightly advancing below, but not prominent on the base ; the 

 canal has a slightly reverted flange. Inner lip straight ; on the 

 body it is a little hollowed into the pillar, which is very short, 

 and has in front a thickened (but not flanged) twisted edge ; the 

 pad of glaze is not thick, and has a sharply defined outer edge 

 throughout its whole length. H. 0"65. B. 0*37. Penultimate 

 whorl, height 0-14. Mouth, height 0-35, breadth 0-2. 



This resembles N. reticulata^ L., more than any other Atlantic 

 form ; but, besides being much smaller, the form of spire is much 

 more scalar ; the ribs and spiral threads are much fewer, and 

 their intersections are flattened, not tubercled j the callus on the 

 lip is not indefiuitely spread on the body ; the junction of the pillar 

 and the body is not so deeply furrowed ; and the front of the pillar 

 has no threads, only scars. It somewhat approaches a variety 

 of N. trivittata, Say ; but that has a much more conical, less scalar 

 spire, with more rounded whorls ; the last whorl is much less 

 broad, is higher, is more extended in front, and is covered with 

 raised rounded threads. 



Mr. Marrat, in his most curious and interesting study ' On the 

 Varieties of the Shells of the Grenus Nassa^ p. 52, puts this species 

 into a group very remote from either of the above. 



4. Nassa babtlonica, n. sp. 



St. 210. Jan. 25, 1875. Lat. 9° 26' N., long. 123° 45' E. 

 Philippines. 375 fms. Mud. Bottom temperature 54°'l. 



Sliell. — Small, thin, porcellaneous, high and narrow, scalar, 

 ribbed, with a sharp tubercle at the top of each rib, a small blunt 

 apex, and a very short stumpy base. Sculpture. Longitudinals — 

 there are rounded, rather high, narrow, straight, sparsely-set ribs, 

 almost mucronate at the top of the whorls and tubercled on the 

 base ; the lines of growth are fine, close, and hair-like. Sp 

 below the narrow, flat, horizontal shoulder are two or three threads, 

 which rise into sharp points in crossing the ribs ; in the middle 

 of the whorls there are some faint traces of raised threads ; those 

 on the base are sharper, and rise into tubercles in crossing 

 the ribs ; all these, as well as the ribs, die out at the extreme 

 point of the base ; beyond this the pillar is defined by a strong 

 broad furrow, and the short twisted pillar is scored with rounded 



