428 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Family PLANAXIDAE. 
Genus PLANAXIS Lamarck, 1822. 
Shell imperforate, solid, with a thick epidermis, spirally silicate, conical; spire sharp; aperture 
oval, notched at the base; lip thick, ridged within; columellar border with a ridge or tubercle above; 
operculum oval, paucispiral, the nucleus nearly terminal. 
Planaxis nucleus Wood. 
Buccinum nucleus Wood, Index Test., p. 110, No. 91, pi. xxm, fig. 91, 1825. 
Planaxis nucleus Sowerby, Conch. Icon., xx, pi. i, tigs. 7 a, b. 
Shell solid, dark, reddish brown throughout, with six rounded whorls and a sharp spire, 
sculptured throughout with rather widely spaced grooves, which are well marked below the suture, on 
the base, and behind the outer lip, but are faint elsewhere; aperture ovate; lip thick, grooved within; 
basal notch deep and well marked. 
Length, 12; diameter, 7 mm. 
Ensenada Honda, Culebra; many. 
Planaxis lineatus Da Costa. 
Buccinum lineatum Da Costa, Brit. Conch., p. 130, 177G. 
Planaxis lineatus Sowerby, Conch. Icon., xx. pi. in, fig. 20. 
Shell small, solid, acuminate, with slightly convex whorls, the sculpture consisting of rather 
widely spaced spiral grooves, which are much more distinctly marked on the upper spire and base 
and which are often wanting elsewhere on the shell. Aperture oval; outer lip very thick, suddenly 
and briefly deflected above; columella reflexed into a lip below; basal notch round. Color generally 
whitish or yellowish, with close, revolving brown bands, sometimes uniform yellowish. 
Length, 7; diameter, 3.5 mm. 
San Juan; Puerto Real; Mayaguez ; Hucares; Ponce, Porto Rico; Ensenada Honda, Culebra. 
A uniformly yellow specimen was obtained at Hucares, Porto Rico. 
Family VERMETIDAi. 
Genus VERMICULARIA Lamarck, 1799. 
Shell free, regularly coiled in its earlier stages, like a Turritella; subsequently uncoiled and 
irregular, operculum filling the aperture, horny, circular, concave. 
Vermicularia spirata Philippi. 
VermiaUus spiratus Philippi, Arch, fur Naturg., 1S36, p. 244. 
Vermetus spiratus Try on, Man., vm, p. 187, pi. LV, figs. 99, 100, 1886. 
Shell when young closely coiled for the first six or eight whorls; these whorls are smooth and 
have a sharp, pinched-up carina below the center; the later whorls become uncoiled and irregular, 
the sculpture consisting of threads and ridges which are nearly parallel with the direction of the shell. 
Color brownish or purplish brown. 
The species sometimes attains a length of 15 cm. and a diameter at the aperture of 12 or 14 mm. 
Mayaguez, several young specimens. 
Genus PETALOCONCHUS Lea, 1843. 
Shell solitary or a few clustered together, spirally and irregularly twisted, affixed, anil usually 
decussated, with two internal ridges running spirally along the columella, which become obsolete near 
the aperture, operculum spiral. 
Petaloconchus erectus Dali. 
V ermetus (Petaloconchus) erectus Dali, Blake Report, n, p. 262, pi. xxxvm, fig. 4, 1889. 
Nucleus small, polished; early part of shell prone, irregularly contorted; longitudinally ridged 
and in fine specimens decussated; latter part of the tube rises vertically or nearly so, is smaller and 
nearly smooth. Color yellowish or grayish white. There are two internal lam i me near the apex. 
Height of erect part, about 25; diameter of aperture, 2 mm. 
Mayaguez Harbor, Eorto Rico, several specimens. 
