168 EOCENE MOLLUSCA. 



No. 107. Voluta Selseiensis. F. U. Edwards. Tab. XXII, figs. 3 a—f. 



Voluta labrella. Sow. 1840. Min. Con., vol. vii, p. 8 ; t. G14, fig. 2. 



— — Morris. 1843. Cat. Brit. Foss., p. 167- 



— — Sow. 1850. Dixon's GeoL, &c., of Suss., p. 187 ; t. 5, figs. 12—14. 

 BULBULA. — — — — — p. 186; t. 7, fig. 35. 



nee. — labrella. Lamk. 1802. Ann. du Mus., vol. i, p. 479, No. 10, vol, xvii, p. 74, 



No. 14. 

 nee. — bulbula. Lamk. 1802. Ann. du Mus., vol. i, p. 479, No. 11. 



V. testa ovato-turbinatd, ventricosd, antice transversim sulcata, cceterum lavi ; spird 

 brevi, conicd, apice acuto : anfractibus prioribus costas et sulcos tranversos, sese decussantes, 

 gerentibus ; anfractibus cceteris unico sulco transverso prope margines suturales exaratis, 

 marginibus ad spiram adpressis ; peripherid anfractuum primo convexd, delude gradatim 

 plus plusque rotundatd : aperturd elongato-rhomboidali, antice profunde emarginatd, postice 

 sub-canal iculatd ; labro postice incrassato, antice acuto, lavi ; labio parum effuso, incrassato, 

 postice magnum callum oblongum, anfractum a spird separantem, formanti ; columella 

 leviter arcuatd, compressd, biplicatd. 



Shell ovately turbinate, ventricose ; spire short, conical, with a small, pointed apex ; 

 the first two or three whorls ornamented with numerous slender longitudinal ribs 

 decussated by transverse furrows, which disappear rather suddenly at the third whorl ; 

 the whorls then become perfectly smooth, except towards the base, where they are 

 traversed by broad more or less conspicuous furrows. The aperture is of an elongated 

 rhomboidal form, deeply notched in front, and terminating posteriorly in an obscure 

 channel ; the outer lip smooth within, thickened behind, and stretching outwards 

 into a wing-like projection ; the middle and front parts thin and sharp-edged ; the 

 columellar lip but little spread out, and very much thickened, forming at the posterior 

 extremity a large callus, which gradually separates the margins of the whorls more and 

 more widely from the spire ; the columella is curved, flattened, and furnished with two 

 oblique, nearly equal folds, and sometimes with a third feeble and indistinct one behind. 

 The middle whorls are convex at the shoulders, but as they become more and more 

 detached from the spire by the increasing callus, the shoulders become more and more 

 bluntly round. 



The shells referred by Mr. Sowerby to V. bulbula are without doubt the young of 

 the present species ; but even in this state (figs. 2 a, b), although they much resemble the 

 French shells, they present dissimilarities which sufficiently indicate a distinct species. In 

 V. bulbula, the shell is more fusiform, with a longer spire ; the margins of the whorls 

 are without the transverse furrow ; the outer lip, even in the adult shell, is not thickened ; 

 the inner lip is very thin, more widely spread over the body-whorl, and without the 

 thickening or callus which distinguishes the present species ; the columella is nearly 

 straight and round ; the folds are more slender, and placed nearer the middle of the 



