NATICA MULTIPUNCTATA. 677 



suture. The late Mr. E. A. Smith expressed an opinion to me shortly before his 

 death that i\ T . occlusa and X. clausa should be regarded as specifically distinct, as 

 have MM. Dautzenberg and Fischer (op. cit., p. 228). 



Natica multipunctata, S. V. Wood. Plate LV, figs. 12, 13. 



1842—48. Natica multipunctata, S. V. Wood, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. [1], vol. ix, p. 529, 1842 ; Mon. 



Crag Moll., pt, i, p. 148, pi. xvi, fig. 9, 1848. 

 1843 — 81. Natica crassa, Nyst, Coq. foss. Belg., p. 443, pi. xxxvii, fig. 33, 1843; N. millepunctata, 



Conch. Terr. tert. Belg., p. 64, pi. v, fig. 5, 1881. 



1871. Natica millepunctata, Jeffreys in Prestwich, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xxvii, pp. 144, 489. 



1872. Natica mill&punctata, A. and E. Bell, Proc. G-eol. Assoc, vol. ii, pp. 203, 209. 



1898. Natica millepunctata, var. multipunctata, A. Bell, Trans. E. Gteol. Soc. Cornwall, vol. xii, p. 144, 

 pi. ii, fig. 1. 



Specific Characters. — Shell large, ovate, thick and coarse, compressed, slightly 

 oblique; whorls 5, the last ventricose, much the largest; spire very short, incon- 

 spicuous; mouth large but not so much expanded as in A 7 , millepunctata ; umbilicus 

 large, open, deep, traversed obliquely by a strong, coarse ridge ; umbilical callosity 

 longer, wider and thicker than in the latter; operculum calcareous. 



Dimensions. — L. up to 45 or 50 mm. B. 40 mm. 



Distribution. — Fossil .• Coralline and Red Crag : all horizons, abundant. Belgian 

 Crag. 



Remarks. — This fossil, which so far as I know is confined to the Pliocene 

 deposits of England and Belgium, was from the first regarded by Wood as distinct 

 from A 7 , millepunctata, an allied southern species, both recent and fossil, of which 

 Jeffreys considered it a variety. I figure typical specimens of each, which may be 

 more useful to students than any verbal description. The coarseness, size and 

 compressed form of N. multipunctata and of its umbilical region, with its less 

 obliquely expanded mouth, give it a general character by which, I think, it may be 

 easily distinguished. M. Dautzenberg informs me that he is quite prepared to 

 consider these two shells to be different species. 



Var. consors, S. V. Wood. Plate LV, fig. 1 1. 



1848. Natica multipunctata, var. consors, S. V. Wood, Mon. Crag Moll., pt. i, p. 148, pi. xvi, figs. 



9 d, 9 e. 

 1898. Natica consors, A. Bell, Trans. E. Geol. Soc. Cornwall, vol. xii, p. 144, pi. ii, fig. 3. 



Varietal Characters. — Differs from the type in size, in its rather more distinct 



spire and its more prominent apex. 



88 



