252 PLIOCENE MOLLUSCA. 



1905. Haedro])Ieura septangularis, Kobelt, Tcou. schalentrag. europ. Meeresconth., vol. iii, p. 326, pi. 



Ixxx, figs. 18, 19. 

 1910. Bela {Haedropleura) sepfangnlaris, Cernlli-Irflli, Palaeoiit. Ital., vol. xvi, p. 51, pi. iv, figs. 



55-57. 



Specific Characters. — Shell thick and solid, oblongo -fusiform ; whorls 8 — 0, 

 moderately convex, compressed towards the base, the last three-fifths the total 

 length; spire regularly diminishing in size; apex blunt; ornamented by seven 

 or eight strong and prominent longitudinal ribs with concave spaces between them, 

 flexuous on the body-whorl, nearly straight on the upper whorls where they generally 

 form a continuous series on the spire, together with excessively minute spiral striae, 

 the outer crust of the shell showing these striae being generally more or less 

 removed, especially in the Crag fossils ; suture slight ; mouth oblong, acutely 

 angulate above ; outer lip generally thickened by the labial rib ; labial notch 

 inconspicuous ; canal short, wide and open ; pillar curved in the middle. 



Dimensions (of Crag specimens). — L. 10 — 12 mm. B. 3 — 4 mm. 



Distribution. — Recent : Mediterranean, Adriatic, ^^gean. Western coasts of 

 France, Spain, and Portugal. British coasts, southern and western. Ireland. 

 Bergen (Sars). 



Fossil : Waltonian Crag : Little Oakley. Newbouruian : Wald- 

 ringfield. Butleyan : Butley. Pleistocene: Selsey (A. Bell), Nar Valley (Rose) ; 

 Cumbree, Largo Bay, Belfast. Holocene : Portrush. 



Lower Pliocene : Italy — Vezza, near Alba. Upper Pliocene : Colle Astesi, 

 Monte Mario, Altavilla. Pleistocene : Messina, Monte Pellegrino, Ficarazzi, 

 Gravina, Valle Biaia. 



Eemarlcs. — The genus HaedropJenra was proposed in 1882 by the Marchese di 

 Monterosato for some small operculated Pleurotomas which had been included 

 with the Belas, but differed materially from them in form and sculpture, a classi- 

 fication which has been adopted by Messrs. Dollfus and Dautzenberg, and other 

 conchologists. The use of the generic term Bela is now generally confined to the 

 Avell-known group of northern shells, of which B. titrricula has been taken as 

 the type. 



The present rather variable but distinct form is a British shell, found only in 

 Ireland and on the southern and western coasts of Grreat Britain, and having 

 generally a southei'u range. It has not been recorded hitherto from the Crag, 

 although it was found many years a,go by the late C. B. Rose in the Nar Valley 

 brick-earth (Pleistocene) at Pentney, about 8 miles S.E. of King's Lynn, and by 

 Mr. A. Bell at Selsey. I have obtained half a dozen examples from Oakley, 

 however, some of them nearly approaching those which occur in the argiles hieues 

 (Lower Pliocene) of the Ligurian coast. Another from Waldringfield (PI. 

 XXVII, fig. 27), which is rather difPerent, agrees with some Recent specimens 

 from Brixham in the Holmes Collection at the Norwich Castle Museum. 



