68 PLIOCENE MOLLUSCA. 



Remarks. — I have several specimens from Oakley of this Italian species which 

 hitherto has not been recorded from the English Crag, though it was found by Mr. 

 Alfred Bell at St. Erth. It resembles N. serrata, but may be distinguished from it by 

 its more acute apex, a feature characteristic of the prismatica group. AVhen 

 examining Mr. van de Wouver's collection of Scaldisien fossils at Antwerp I 

 noticed examples of the same shell, wJiicli I understand is not uncommon in those 

 deposits. Nyst's figure of 1843 (pi. xliii, fig. 12), before mentioned, may l)e of 

 this species. I have submitted the Oakley fossils to Prof. Issel, who has kindly 

 confirmed my identification. 



.V. emiliana resembles N. limata in form, but the spiral sculpture of the latter 

 is very much finer, and the outer lip is more distinctly thickened externally. 

 Among the specimens known to me from the Crag there is no difficulty in 

 distinguishing between the two. At Oakley, moreover, N. limata not infrequently 

 assumes the features represented in PI. IV, fig. 3, as var. aiiomala, which I have 

 not observed in N. emiliana or in any other of the Crag Nassas. 



The Oakley specimens correspond to Bellardi's variety A. 



Nassa Cantrainii, Bellardi. Plate III, figs. 9, 10. 



1882. Nassa Cantrainii, Bellardi, Moll. Terr. Terz. Piein., pt. iii, p. 78, pi. v, fig. 7. 

 1889. Nassa Cantrainii, Sacco, Cat. Pal. Bac. Terz. Piem., p. 106. 



Specific Characters. — Shell solid, ovate ; spire comparatively short ; whorls 

 convex, depressed above, forming a distinct but narrow and rounded shelf below 

 the suture ; ornamented by numerous longitudinal ribs, about 20 on the body-whorl, 

 intersected by strong, prominent spiral costte, less numerous and less crowded than 

 in N. prismatica or N. serrata, and equal to the spaces between them ; apex acute, 

 as in N. prismatica ; mouth suborbicular, angulated above, with a long fold-like 

 tooth to the left; outer lip broadly thickened outside and grooved within; inner lip 

 extending over the pillar and the umbilical region ; columella deepl}^ excavated ; 

 canal very short, wide, turning sharply to the left. 



Dimensions. — L. 20 mm. B. 12 mm. 



Distrihutiov . — Not known living. 



Fossil : Waltonian Crag : Little Oakley. 



Pliocene: Italy — Piacenziano; Astiano. 



Remarks. — I have found one specimen only at Oakley of this form. It is not 

 (fuite perfect, but appears to agree with some shells I collected from the Pliocene 

 of Bordighera and Piacenza which have been identified as N. Ganfrainii. I figure 

 one from the former place to show the correspondence between the Italian and the 

 Oakley fossils. N. Cantrainii has not been recorded hitherto from the Crag; it is 

 considered by Bellai'di to belong to the prismatica group. 



