168 PLIOCENE MOLLUSCA. 



spltzbergeuHls group, tliej are not sufficiently close to be referred to that species 

 without doul^t. Under the circumstances it seems better to follow Dr. 0yen in 

 regarding them as a variety of N. despecta. 



N. spitzherijensis is a circumpolar form, ranging from Spitzbergen to the 

 Behring Sea. 



Neptunea antiqua (Linne). 



1758. Murex antiqmis, Linne, Sjst. Nat., ed. x, p. 754, no. 487. 

 1848. TropJwn antiquum, S. V. Wood, Mon. Crag Moll., pt. i, p. 44. 

 1853. FusMS antiquus, Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Moll., vol. iii, p. 423, pi. civ, figs. 1, 2. 

 1867. Fusus antiquus, Jeffreys, Brit. Couch., vol. iv, p. 323, pi. Ixxxv, fig. 1. 



1912. Neptunea antiqua, Dautzenberg et Fischer, Camp. Scieut. Pr. Monaco, vol. xxxvii (Mollusques), 

 p. 68, pi. i, fig. 8. 



Specific Characters. — See auctt. 



Dimensions. — L. 90 — 180 mm. B. 35 — 105 mm. 



Distribution.— Recent : east and west coasts of Great Britain from Cornwall to 

 Shetland (coralline and laminarian zones and deep water), rare in the English 

 Channel. Ireland: from Bantry Bay to Dublin and the North Channel. Sweden : 

 Bohuslan. Norway : south-west coast. France : Boulonnais ; west coast to 

 Arcachon (Lafonte). 



Beniarhs. — This shell is generally regarded by Scandinavian conchologists as 

 distinct from N. despecta, the term anfiqua being confined to the well-known 

 British species, which in its typical form has an elongate spire and inconspicuous 

 spiral sculpture ; the strongly carinated forms, usually shorter in the spire, wider 

 in proportion to the length, and specially characteristic of northern seas, being- 

 grouped as varieties of N. despecta. 



MM. Dautzenberg and Fischer have recently expressed the opinion {op. cif., 

 p. 76) that all these dextral Neptuneas, carinated or otherwise, should be regarded 

 as varieties of N. antiqua ; their relation to the various horizons of the Crag, both 

 of England and Belgium, show, however, that N. despecta was the first to appear 

 in the Anglo-Belgian basin, suggesting that possibly N. antiqua may have been an 

 offshoot from it. 



Var. typica. Plate XIX, fig. 1. 



Dimensions. — (Of Crag specimen). L. 65 mm, B. 35 mm. 



Remarks. — The fossil here figured nearly represents the typical sculpture of 

 N. antiqua, corresponding with Recent specimens in my collection from the North 

 Sea and from Bohuslan on the west coast of Sweden, except that it is smaller. It 

 was found at Newbourn and belongs to the Sedgwick Museum at Cambridge. So 



