Adjourned Meeting, July 11th, 1864.
Dr. Trask in the Chair.
Seven members present.
The following paper was received from the author, in accordance with the proposition accepted by the Academy Dec. 7th, 1863.
Descriptions of New Marine Shells from the Coast of California.
PART I.
BY PHILIP P. CARPENTER, B.A., PH.D.
Corresponding Member of the Académies of Philadelphia and California, etc.
Warrington, England, May 4th, 1864.
The shells to be described in these papers were collected by Dr. J. G. Cooper, for the State Geological Survey of California. Being aware that I was engaged in preparing descriptions of the shells of the Smithsonian collections, to serve as a handbook on the Mollusca of the western coast, and also (at the present time), a “Supplementary Report on the present state of our knowledge of the Mollusca of the west coast of North America,” for the British Association; he has very obligingly transmitted to me such duplicates as could be spared from the State collection for identification.
Calliostoma Swainson, 1840.
Calliostoma formosum Carp. n. sp. State Collection, Species 615 a.
C. t. subelevatá, brunnescens, fusco-purpureo nebulosa, anfr. vii. valde tumentibus, suturis impressis; carinis majoribus in spirâ duabus, gemmatis, interdum brunneo huc et illuc tinctis; serie granulorum minorum prope suturam; serie quartá minimorum inter duas carinas; lirulis basalibus circ. ix., fusco maculatis; interstitiis à lineis incrementi corrugatis; aperturá subquadratá. Long. 0.47, long. spir. 0.34, lat. 0.43, div. 68°.
Hab. San Pedro five; San Diego four dead on beach at low water—very rare. It is well distinguished by the two principal necklaces, with smaller rows intercalating. In coloring it resembles C. eximium Reeve, (versicolor Menke, Mazatlan Catal.), from the Gulf of California.
Calliostoma splendens Carp. n. sp. State Collection, Species 530 a.
C. t. parvâ, latiore, tenuiore; exquisité rufo-castaneo et purpureo, interdum intensioribus, et livido, varie nebulosâ et punctatâ; anfractu primo nucleoso diaphano, granuloso, apice mamillato; dein iv. normalibus, subtabulatis; primo costibus spiralibus ii. acutis, valde expressis, alterâ parvâ suturali; anfr. penult. costis iii. quarum media extantior, superior subgranulosa; anfr. ult. aliis intercalantibus, supra peripheriam v. quarum tertia magis extans; interstitiis à lineis incrementi vix decussatis; costâ circa peripheriam angulatam conspicuâ; basi costulis rotundatis, haud extantibus, peripheriam et axim versus conspicuis, medio sæpe obsoletis; basi nitidâ, subplanatâ; aperturâ subquadratâ, intus carneo-nacreâ, valde splendente: operculo tenuissimo, levissimo, pallido, diaphano, concavo; anfr. circ. x. crebris, parum definitis.
Long. 0.23, long. spir. 0.15, lat. 0.24, div. 87°.
Hab. Monterey, 20 fms. dredged 2, dead; Santa Barbara, in roots of kelp growing in about 10 fms. 13, dredged in 16 fms. 2, dead; S. B. Island, 2, dead, on beach; Catalina Island, 30-40 fms. 2, alive; San Diego, 1, dead.
The specimens here described are probably mature, and are well marked in character. The painting is richly lustrous, of a fleshy nacre inside; outside, of a rich orange-chestnut or red, variously laid on a light ground, sometimes with streaks of nacreous purple, often with dots on the ribs. The operculum is extremely thin and transparent.
Solariella Searles Wood, 1843.
Solariella peramabilis Carp. n. sp. State Collection, Species 1025.
S. t. tenuissimâ, elegantissime sculptâ, lividâ, rufo-fusco pallide maculatâ; anfr. nucl. ii. valde tumidis, lævibus, apice mamillato; dein anfr. norm. iv. tabulatis, suturis fere rectangulatis, supra spiram bi-seu tri-carinatis, carinulis aliis postea intercalantibus; totâ superficie elegantissime et creberrime radiatim lirulatâ, lirulis acutissimis, extantibus, supra carinas subgranulosis, interstitia anfr. primis fenestrantibus, postea decussantibus; basi valde rotundatâ; carinulis circ. v., anticâ granulosâ, sculptâ; umbilico maximo, anfractus intus monstrante, lineis spiralibus circ. iii. distantibus, et lirulis radiantibus à basi continuis, concinne ornato; aperturâ rotundatâ, à carinulis indentatâ, vix parieti attingente, intus iridescente, nacreâ: operculo tenuissimo, multispirali, anfr. circ. x., radiatim eleganter rugulosis.
Long. 0.38, long. spir. 0.19, lat. 0.42, div. 85°.
Hab. Catalina Island, 30-120 fms. 20, both alive and dead.
The name Solariella, given to a crag fossil (tertiary) species by Searles Wood, which he afterwards reunited to Margarita, is here used as a subgenus, in the author’s sense, for Margaritæ with large crenated umbilicus. This is one of the many instances in which the North Pacific fauna carries out the ideas of the English crag. Unfortunately, the name appears in Add. Gen. I, 431, for a subgenus of Monilea, with which these shells have only a limited affinity; and, accordingly, the true Solariellæ have been reconstituted as part of Minolia, A. Ad. That gentleman, however, fully accords with the present arrangement. The Solariellæ are known from Trochiscus, and from all forms of Solariadæ, by the normal (not inverted) nuclear whirls; and from the Solarids, by the nacreous texture.
Dr. Cooper’s very lovely species of a very lovely group may possibly prove to be a variety of the Japanese “Minolia aspecta A. Ad.” ms. in Mus. Cuming; but, until more specimens from each district have been compared, it is more prudent to keep them separate. It seems to have exhausted the powers of sculpture on its graceful habitation. Under the microscope, the sharp transverse lirulæ, mounting over the keels, dividing the interspaces, and even ascending the wide umbilicus, are eminently beautiful. Even the operculum is sculptured with delicate waved radiating lines. It has the aspect of an extremely thin Torinia, with a funnel-shaped umbilicus. This is not only bounded by a granular keel, but has three other distant spiral lines crossing the lirulæ. The radiating sculpture is more distant on the upper whirls, where first two, then three keels appear, fenestrated by the lirulæ, which afterwards become much closer, and are sometimes worn away behind the labrum.
Margarita Leach, 1819.
Margarita acuticostata Carp. n. sp. State Collection, Species 354.
M. t. M. lirulatæ simili; parvâ, tenui, albido-cinereâ, olivaceo-fusco varie maculatâ, seu punctulatâ; anfr. nucleosis ii. lævibus, tumidis, fuscis, apice mamillato; anfr. norm. iii. tumidis, tabulatis, suturis rectangulatis; carinis acutis in spirâ iii., quartâ peripheriali, æquidistantibus; interstitiis spiraliter striatis; in spirâ et circâ basim radiatim creberrime striulatis; basi subrotundatà, lirulis distantibus circ. ix. ornatâ; umbilico magno, infundibuliformi, vix angulato, intus interdum striis spiralibus paucis sculpto; aperturâ subrotundatâ, pariete parum attingente: operculo anfr. paucioribus, circ. vi. suturis subelevatis.
Long. 0.18, long. spir. 0.12, lat. 0.19, div. 87°.
Hab. Santa Barbara, in kelp-root, 2, dead; Catalina Island, 8-10 fms. 20, some alive; Monterey, 20 fms. 4, dead.
This shell might be taken for a delicate form of Gibbula parcipicta, which in painting it exactly resembles. It is known from the Vancouver M. lirulata by the three sharp keels on the spire, between which there are no others intercalating, and by the details of sculpture. The patches of color are very variable, sometimes scarcely appearing; and are generally deeper tinted on the keels, giving a false appearance of granulation.
Margarita salmonea Carp. (? var.) State Collection, Species 352.
M. t. inter M. undulatæ et M. pupillæ intermediâ; minore, spirâ satis elevatâ; anfr. nucl. iii. purpureis; dein iv. normalibus, colore salmoneo; liris spiralibus in spirâ viii., quarum ii. suturales, minimæ; suturis haud undulatis; interstitiis à lineis incrementi creberrimis, haud elevatis, sculptis; basi lirulis creberrimis, æqualibus, circ. xviii. ornatâ; aperturâ subquadratâ; umbilico minore, angulato: operculo tenuissimo, diaphano, anfr. circ. x. vix definitis.
Long. 0.22, long. spir. 0.14, lat. 0.22, div. 80°.
Hab. Monterey, 6-20 fms. 5, alive; Catalina Island, 30-40 fms. 2, alive.
This shell differs from the common Margarita of the Vancouver district (M. pupilla Gld. = calliostoma A. Ad.), in its much deeper and salmon-tinted hue; its finer sculpture, absence of decussation, and want of distant liræ round the umbilicus. From the Norwegian specimens of M. undulata it is known by the absence of sutural waves, and by the finer basal riblets, of which the interstices are minutely sculptured across. The operculum differs from both, in its great thinness and smoothness. Additional specimens may better display its true relations.[10]
Liotia Gray, 1842.
Liotia fenestrata Carp. n. sp. State Collection, Species 1006.
L. t. parvâ, primum subdiscoideâ, postea variante, albido-cinereâ; anfr. nucl. lævibus, planatis, apice depresso; anfr. norm. ii. et dimidio, convexis; clathris validis distantibus circ. xv. radiantibus, et vii. spiralibus, subæquantibus, conspicue fenestratâ; aperturâ circulari, sæpius plus minusve declivi, parieti vix attingente; umbilico maximo, anfractus monstrante; labio, regione umbilicari, sinuato.
Long. 0.09, long. spir. 0.04, lat. 0.12, div. 170°.
Hab. Catalina Island; beach to 40 fms. 20, dead.
This strongly sculptured species varies greatly (in the two specimens sent to the Smithsonian Institution), in the declivity of the mouth and consequent size of the umbilicus, where the labium is, as it were, scooped out.
Liotia acuticostata Carp. n. sp. State Collection, Species 519 a.
L. t. parvâ, subglobosâ, albâ; anfr. nucl. ii. lævibus, apice satis extante; anfr. normalibus iii., carinis in spirâ maxime extantibus ii., anfr. ult. vi.; suturis subrectangulatis; aperturâ circulari; labro extus parum contracto; labio conspicuo; umbilico haud magno.
Long. 0.12, long. spir. 0.06, lat. 0.10, div. 95°.
Hab. Catalina Island, 10-20 fms. 4, alive; Monterey, 4, dead, dredged?
This pretty little Cyclostomoid species is easily recognized by the sharp revolving keels, and absence of radiating sculpture.
Amycla H. & A. Adams, 1858.
Amycla undata Carp. n. sp. State Collection, Species 1067.
A. t. parvâ rufo-fuscâ, turritâ, epidermide tenui indutâ; marginibus spiræ subrectis; anfr. nucleosis iv. lævibus, tumidis, apice mamillato; anfr. normalibus v. valde tumidis, suturis impressis; costis radiantibus ix. valde tumidis, latis, antice et postice obsoletis; interstitiis undatis; liris spiralibus acutioribus, distantibus, costas superantibus, secundum interstitia eleganter undulatis, quarum vi.—viii. in spirâ monstrantur; aperturâ ovali, in canalem brevem rectam productâ, intus haud liratâ; labro acuto, labio acuto extanti ad suturam juncto; columellâ planatâ: operculo nassoideo. ?
Long. 0.44, long. spir. 0.20, lat. 0.20, div. 45°.
Hab. Catalina Island, not rare, 30-40 fm. 10, some alive.
The nuclear whirls in this shell resemble a minute Paludina. The only operculum in the specimens sent was broken in extraction, but appeared to be Nassoid. The sculpture consists of elongate knobs swelling in the middle; with spiral lines hanging as it were from pier to pier, as in a suspension bridge. The aperture is somewhat Columbelloid, the inner and outer lips joining at the suture; but neither are lirate within, although they have that appearance from the outside sculpture showing through.
[10] Specimens from Monterey, and one from the beach of the Farallone Islands, are intermediate between that described by Mr. Carpenter (Catalina Island specimen) and the northern M. pupilla. J. G. Cooper.