and Shells of Massachusetts Bay. 89 
OssERvaTIONS. Several specimens of this little shell 
were obtained, during the last summer, from various 
parts of our outer bay. In its general outline it corres- 
ponds so closely with B. cylindracea, Penn., as described 
by Des Hayes in his recent edition of Lamarck, that, were 
it not for the perforation of the spire in that species, 
which does not exist in this, the same description would 
answer equally well for both shells. 
B. árachis, Quoy, found at Port George, New Hol- 
land, has also many traits of resemblance to our species, 
but differs from it, like the preceding, in having the spire 
umbilicate. I am not aware of any other described spe- 
cies, which could be confounded with this. 
NaTICA CONSOLIDATA. 
N. testà subglobosáà, levi, rufescente, interdum albidà ; spirà bre- 
vissimáà ; umbilico parvo, consolidato ; apertura ovata, operculo cal- 
careo, levi ; epidermide fusco-virescente. 
Diam. of axis ten twentieths, of basis eleven twen- 
tieths of an inch. 
Habit. coast of New England. 
My own Collection. 
Cabinets of Bost. Soc. Nat. History, A. A. Gould, 
and N. Y. Lyc. Nat. History. 
Description. Shell smooth, sub-globose, color vary- 
ing from dull white, to dark red or brown ; (when of the 
latter, a whitish zone always encircles the base), covered 
with a thin, greenish-brown epidermis; whorls four or 
five, with numerous, minute, incremental. striz ; ; superior 
portion of the body-whorl depressed and sometimes 
slightly concave, sutural line distinct, spire very short 
and flattened, aperture oval, outer lip tranchant at supe- 
