400 MARINE INVERTEBRATES 
FAMILY OLIVIDE 
Genus Oliva . 
The genus Oliva is one of the favorites among collectors. It 
comprises smooth, highly polished, porcelanous, and oval shells 
with a deeply notched, long, narrow aperture. The columellar lip is 
usually heavily callonsed and ornamented with oblique folds. The 
animal’s foot is very large, and extends laterally into lobes which 
curve back over the shell. In front the propodium is very large, 
forming, as in Natica and Polynices, a sort of plow. The mantle 
lobes almost cover the shell when extended. 
O. literata. The only American example out of some sixty known 
species. Itis found in great abundance in sandy tide-pools along the west 
Florida shores. It ranges from Hatteras'to the West Indies, and- 
may be looked for in stations similar to those of the naticas. It is ex- 
ceedingly active, crawling rapidly over the sand or burying itself very 
quickly out of sight, and is carnivorous. The shell is highly polished, 
about two inches long, and pale yellowish-white in color, covered with 
longitudinal, angulated, or zigzag lines of chestnut. The spire is short, 
the sutures channeled, and the columella calloused with white enamel, 
and obliquely striated. (Plate LXXVII.) 
Genus Olivella 
The genus Olivella resembles Oliva very closely in conchologi- 
cal characters, but the shells are, with few exceptions, exceed- 
ingly small, and usually have a somewhat more elongated spire 
than is the case in the genus Oliva proper. The animal of Oli- 
vella seems to be a degenerate, for it possesses neither tentacles 
nor eyes. In habit and station it resembles Oliva. 
O. mutica. In Floridian waters this species is exceedingly common. 
It isnot more than one fifth of an inch long, is highly polished and shin- 
ing, and yellowish-white in color, with revolving pale rufous bands. It 
has the typical oliva-shape. 
O. biplicata. A Californian species of considerable interest, the 
largest of the olivellas. It was evidently used by the aborigines as 
Wampum or as ornaments, for a great many specimens are found among 
buried Indian relics. This species is about the size and shape of an 
olive. The spire is short, though longer than the typical Oliva spire, the 
shell is smooth and highly polished, and the columella is thickly cal- 
loused, and has two entering folds near the base. The color is ereamy- 
white to dove-color, with a purple sheen over all, and purple markings 
