NEW MELANID^E OF THE UNITED STATES. 347 



Shell canaliculate, .slightly tuberculate, raised, conical, pale horn-color, obscurely 

 banded below; spire regularly conical ; sutures very much impressed; whorls about 

 ten, flattened about the apex, channelled below ; aperture rather small, rhomboidal, 

 banded within; outer lip sharp and sigmoid; columella pale salmon color; channel 

 rather short. 



Operculum ovately angular, spiral, very dark brown, with the polar point near to 

 the basal margin. 



Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1861, p. 893. 



Hah. — Tennessee River, Alabama ? Win. Spillman. M. D. 



My cabinet and cabinet of Dr. Spillman. 

 Diam. -76, Length 149 inch. 



Remarks. — There are two specimens before me. Both have tubercles below 

 the sulcate channel, but one has them much better developed than the other. 

 The aperture within is pale salmon in both specimens, but this may not be constant. 

 It is rather shorter in the channel than nodosa, herein described, and the spire is 

 also shorter. The aperture is more than one-third the length of the shell. 



Io variabilis. PI. 39, fig. 214. 



Testa lasvi, elevato-conoidea, subfusiformi, vol vittata vel intense purpurea vel virente ; spira regulariter 

 conoidea; suturis leviter impressis ; anfractibus instar novenis, planulatis, in medio angulatis; apertura 

 elongato-rliomboidea ; labro aeuto et sinuoso ; columella vel albida vel purpurea ct valde contorta ; 

 canale attenuato-constricta . 



Shell smooth, raised, conical, subfusiform, banded, deep purple or greenish ; spire 

 regularly conical ; sutures slightly impressed ; whorls about nine, flattened, angular 

 in the middle ; aperture elongately rhomboidal ; outer lip sharp and sinuous; colu- 

 mella white or purple and very much twisted ; canal long and narrow. 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1861, p. 393. 



Hob. — Tennessee River, Alabama ? Wm. Spillman, M. D. 



My cabinet and cabinet of Dr. Spillman. 

 Diam. - 40, Length - SS inch. 



Remarks. — A number were received from Dr. Spillman, but they are generally 

 young, and the older specimens were much injured in the delicate fuse and outer lip. 

 It is a small, thin species, with a well developed nearly straight channel. It seems 

 to be a very variable species, some individuals being of intense purple, nearly black, 

 while others are yellowish, with numerous bands ; others again are greenish, without 

 bands. Some are carinate towards the apex, while others are free from carination. 

 There is a disposition in several to be tuberculate along the angle on the middle of 

 the lower whorl. Generally there is a light line along the upper part of the whorls. 

 The aperture is nearly one-half the length of the shell. 



