50 
MARINE SHELLS OF WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA 
Aletes centiquadrus Valenciennes, 1846 
Voyage de la fregate “Venus,” Atlas, PI. 11, fig. 1 a. Tryon, Manual of Conchology, 
8: 174; PI. 49, fig. 5; PI. 50, figs. 36-40. 
Laterally attached, spirally twisted, earlier whorls rather narrow, rap¬ 
idly increasing, the last wide, spread out and compressed at the margin; 
light yellowish brown, with obscure narrow lines, earlier whorls dark 
brown, the interstices of the lirae impressed punctate. (Tryon.) 
Type in ? Type locality, Gulf of California (?). 
Range. San Diego, California, to Panama. 
Described as Vermetus. 
Genus SPIROGLYPHUS Daudin, 1800 
Animal excavating a groove on the surface of shells or stones, covering 
it over with shelly material, and thus forming a tubular planorbiform case. 
When first hatched, the shell is spiral and regular, consisting of one and a 
half whorls; it soon attaches itself, the channel it excavates being at first 
shallow, afterward deeper ; color bright purple to nearly black. The oper¬ 
culum is large, thick, convex exteriorly, with strong concentric laminae, 
plane interiorly, concentrically lirate, with central mamilla, and narrowly 
elevated margin. (Tryon, Manual of Conchology.) 
Example, Vermetus annulatus Dauden. 
Distribution. Philippines, Zanzibar, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Cali¬ 
fornia, West Indies on shells, Mediterranean. 
Spiroglyphus lituellus Morch, 1861 
Proceedings, Zoological Society of London, 154. Tryon, Manual of Conchology, 
8: PL 54, fig. 82. 
T. varie torta plerumque lituiformis, profundissime immersa; anfr. 
graciles plani, utrinque obtuse angulati, saepe fossula longitudinali me- 
diana, unde carina vel lira obtusa lateris externi; striae et lirae incrementi 
arcuatae, approximatae, regulares; apertura circularis interdum obliqua, 
nonnunquam soluta; color albescens vel cinereus, interdum fascia obsoleta 
fusca, anfr. primi badii. T. infantilis nitida, apice bullata. Diam. ap., 2 m. 
(circiter). (Morch.) 
Shell variously twisted, mostly crozier-form, most profoundly im¬ 
mersed; whorls slender and plane, on one side obtusely angulated, often 
with a largest median fossula, from which a carina or obtuse riblet comes 
on the outer side; striae or lirae of growth arcuate, approximate, regular; 
aperture circular, sometimes oblique, occasionally desolved; color whitish 
or ashy, sometimes with obsolete tawny dashes, first whorls brownish. 
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