GASTEROPODA. 19 



2. Erato maugeri^. Gray, Tab. II, fig. 11, a — b. 



Erato maugeri^:. S. Wood. Catalogue 1842. 



— G. Sowerby. Conch. Illust. fig. 57, 1841. 



E. Testa conoided, subanyulatd, Iceviyatd politd ; spird brevi, obtusd ; an/ractibus, 

 tribus ; aperturd lineatd, basi subcanaliculato ; labro denticulate* ; columella subplicatd. 



Shell small, conoidal, subangulated, smooth, and glossy ; spire short ; volutions 

 3 — 4 tumid, base subcaniculated ; outer lip denticulated, with a few plaits upon the 

 lower part of the columella ; outer lip a little thickened in the middle. 



Axis, \ of an inch nearly. 



Locality. Cor. Crag, Sutton. 



Red Crag, Sutton. Recent, West Indies. 



I have only one specimen from the Red Crag, but it is by no means rare in the 

 Coralline beds. There is, I think, no doubt of its identity with the West Indian 

 shell. It has three folds at the base of the columella, with four or five denticula- 

 tions above them; the outer lip is rather thickened in the middle. One of my 

 specimens from the Cor. Crag has a tinge of colour remaining in the outer lip. 

 The principal differences between this and the preceding {E. lavis) are its size and 

 its more tumid and angular form of volution. The figures are slightly enlarged. 

 This species is also from Touraine, in Mr. Ly ell's cabinet. 



Voluta,* Linnaus, 1767. 



Mitra. Flem. 1S28. 

 Fasciolaria. Conrad. 

 Harpula. Swains. 1840. 



Gen. Char. Shell subovate, or elongato-fusiform, more or less ventricose, some- 

 times angulated, thick, strong, and generally large, smooth, striated, or tuber- 

 culated ; apex obtuse or mammillated ; outer lip simple, sometimes thickened 

 within ; aperture generally large and linear, terminating in a short and deep notch ; 

 columella with several folds, of which the lowest is the largest. 



Shells of a truly mammillated apex are not as yet known below the Miocene 

 formations. Those species hitherto considered as Volutes, from the Eocene 

 deposits, have an elevated spire and an acuminated apex ; they differed probably in 

 their animal inhabitants, and may constitute another genus. 



A species in Mr. Lyell's cabinet from the Eocene formation, at Claibourne, 

 Alabama, and also one in the possession of Mr. Edwards, from Bracklesham, appear 

 to preserve an intermediate character, having a small papilliform apex, showing the 

 transition from the acute to the obtuse. 



The recent species belonging to this genus are generally natives of the warmer 

 regions of the globe, although one large species of true Volute, with an emarginate 

 base, has been found on the southern coast of Patagonia, in lat. 51° S. 



* Etym. Volulus, rolled, a volvo. 



