﻿196 DEVONIAN FAUNA. 



3. Natica meridionalis, Phillips ? PL XVII, figs. 15, 15 a, 15 b. 



? 1841. Natica meridionalis, Phillips. Pal. Foss., p. 94, pi. xxxvi, fig. 173. 



? 1854. — Morris. Cat. Brit. Foss., p. 263. 



? 1888. — Etheridge. Foss. Brit., vol. i, Pal., p. 164. 



Description. — Shell small, ovoid, turbiniform. Spire low, convex, of about 

 four whorls. Suture deep. Whorls narrow, convex, less than half exposed, very 

 rapidly increasing. Body-whorl about two-thirds the height of shell, voluminous, 

 evenly convex, and turning in to form an obliquely rounded base. Surface 

 almost smooth, marked by a few indistinct ridges or growth-lines, starting 

 perpendicularly from the upper suture, and vanishing as they slope backwards on 

 the middle of the whorl. Mouth large, wide; apical portion obtuse; lower 

 extremity evenly rounded. Inner lip apparently straight. Signs of a small 

 umbilicus. Shell-structure rather thick. 



Size. — Height 9 mm., width 6 mm. 



Locality. — Wolborough. A single specimen is in Mr. Vicary's Collection. 



Remarks. — This is a pretty little species, but the only example I know is too 

 defective to enable me to determine its position positively. It is a very small 

 shell, but a line along the centre of its largest whorl seems to indicate that the 

 true body- whorl is absent. Nevertheless its form is certainly peculiar. The 

 spire is low and convex in outline, owing to the proportionately increasing 

 rapidity of diminution. More than half the whorls are covered by those succeeding, 

 and where exposed at the base of the specimen they appear to be of a similar 

 convexity all through. The rounding-in of the shell below seems to indicate the 

 existence of an umbilicus, but as that part is choked with matrix, this cannot 

 be certainly asserted. The ornament is very faint, but the surface appears 

 somewhat worn. 



I am in great doubt as to whether this is the shell represented by Phillips 

 as N. meridionalis. His description is very slight, and his figure very sketchy. 

 When examined under a lens the latter appears to be similar in shape to our 

 shell, but the striae certainly show no signs of turning backward as they vanish. 

 It is, however, possible that this might have been unnoticed by Phillips ; and, 

 as I have been unable to meet with his type specimen, I think it best for the 

 present to include the Wolborough fossil under his name. 



