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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. VI, October, 1952 
Alectrion lirata (Dunker) 
A. lirata should merely be mentioned in 
this list. Bonnot (1935) reports that a ship- 
ment of Japanese seed oysters was inspected 
at Elkhorn Slough. The Nassarius specimens 
therein were identified by Dr. Paul Bartsch 
of the U. S. National Museum as Alectrion 
lirata (Dunker). However, this is the only 
reference to this species’ being found on our 
coast, so I assume that, unlike N. ohsoletus, 
it has not become established in this area. 
Nassarius onchodes (Dali) 
Dali (1917) described a species of Nassa- 
riidae which he named Alectrion onchodes, 
ranging from Cedros Island, Lower California, 
to Panama. This species was never figured. 
In the collections, I found no example of 
this mollusc. Although Jordan (1936) reports 
N. onchodes from the Pleistocene of Magda- 
lena Bay, Lower California, I have discovered 
no other record of its being collected either 
living or as a fossil. Consequently, the posi- 
tion of this species remains uncertain. 
Nassarius mendicus indisputabilis (Oldroyd) 
The systematic status of N. mendicus in- 
disputabilis is also problematic. This mollusc 
was figured and named as a subspecies of 
N. mendicus by Oldroyd (1927), but no de- 
scription of it was given. According to Grant 
and Gale (1931), indisputabilis is of no value. 
However, although I was able to locate only 
two specimens identified as indisputabilis, they 
do differ from typical mendicus, as well as 
from the subspecies cooperi. The shells of 
indisputabilis are about 8 millimeters in length, 
smaller than mendicus or cooperi. The sculpture 
of indisputabilis is sharper, the axial threads 
being more, prominent than on either mendi- 
cus or cooperi. Unlike either mendicus or cooperi, 
the transverse and axial ornamentation is 
about equally well developed and distinct on 
all whorls. Both the basal groove and the 
anterior canal of indisputabilis are larger in 
relation to shell size than on mendicus or 
cooperi. N. indisputabilis seems to have a more 
northern range than mendicus or cooperi; the 
specimens I examined, housed at the Califor- 
nia Academy of Sciences, were from Annette 
Island, Alaska. 
Further to confuse the question, the Cali- 
fornia Academy of Sciences specimens of 
indisputabilis are much closer to Oldroyd’s 
(1927) Figure 14, representing mendicus, than 
to Oldroyd’s (1927) Figure 4, which sup- 
posedly shows indisputabilis. Until a descrip- 
tion of indisputabilis is published and more 
specimens are collected, the true position of 
this form cannot be determined. 
REFERENCES 
Bonnot, Paul. 1935. A recent introduction 
of exotic species of molluscs into California 
waters from Japan. Nautilus 1-2. 
Burch, J. Q. 1945. Distributional list of the 
west American marine mollusks from San 
Diego, California, to the Polar Sea. South. 
Calif. Conch. Club, Proc. 1(2 [51]): 3-64. 
[Mimeo.j 
Carpenter, P. P. 1864. Supplementary re- 
port on the present state of our knowledge 
with regard to the mollusca of the west 
coast of North America. Brit. Assoc. Adv. 
Sci., Rpt. 1863: 517-686. 
Cooke, A. H. 1895. Molluscs. The Cambridge 
Natural History. Vol. 3. 459 pp. The Mac- 
millan Company, London. 
Dale, W. H. 1917. Summary of the mollusks 
of the family Alectrionidae of the west 
coast of America. U. S. Natl. Mus., Proc. 
51: 575-579. 
1921. Summary of the marine shell- 
bearing mollusks of the northwest coast 
of America, from San Diego, California, 
to the Polar Sea, mostly contained in 
the collection of the U. S. National Mu- 
seum, with illustrations of hitherto un- 
figured species. U. S. Natl. Mus., Bui. 112: 
1-217. 
Flattely, F. W., and C. L. Walton. 1922. 
The Biology of the Seashore. 336 pp. The 
Macmillan Company, London. 
