328 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



these, with the surface distribution of the purple part overlying the 

 white as a rule. Fig. 2 is a section of the posterior part of the 

 shell, where the purple is f of an inch thick. At the anterior end 

 it is deposited in bands of purple and white. Fig. 3 is a section of 

 the central basal margin, where the purple is too thin for a good 

 quality of beads. This part was occasionally used, and the shell 

 was cut so as to show the lines of growth. De Kay gives the ex- 

 treme length as 4.5 inches. 



Mr Tooker also furnished some antique columellae from near 

 Sag Harbor, divested of the outer whorls, and thus prepared to be 

 worked into pins or long and short beads. Fig. 4, 5, 6 show three 

 of these, apparently of small shells ofSycotypus canalicu- 

 1 a t u s . This occurs from Cape Cod to Florida, and is readily 

 recognized by the canal around the spire. Fig. 7 is a young shell of 

 Fulgur carica, often used, and having the same range. It is 

 given here to show the opposite character of Busycon per- 

 v e r s u m , which was commonly used in the south, not reaching 

 northern shores. The peculiar feature of this latter shell is in hav- 

 ing the whorls revolve in the opposite direction to most species, as 

 may be seen. Fig. 8 is from a small specimen in the writer's 

 cabinet. De Kay gave two figures of this shell, revolving in the 

 contrary direction to the typical form, and this without comment. 

 He called it Pyrula spicata, of Lamarck, and said : "1 have 

 met with this shell in the collections of Dr Budd and others, but 

 can not find it authenticated as a New York species." — De Kay, 

 p. 142. It is not included in the list of invertebrates of Vineyard 

 sound, nor has the writer ever found it on the coast of New York. 

 It is proper to make this statement in correction of what W, H. 

 Holmes has said of locality. " The Busycon perversa m 

 has been more extensively used than any other shell, and conse- 

 quently its distribution in one form or other is very wide. It is 

 obtained along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to 

 Mexico, and within the United States it is artificially distributed over 

 the greater part of the Atlantic slope." — Holmes, p. 192. Attention 

 is called to its range now, because it is probable that almost all 

 articles made from this north of Maryland are of quite recent use. 



