General Appearance.—Shell conical, somewhat convex; white, sometimes tinted yellowish, from the thin investing membrane; the produced tips of the terga are purple: the parietes of each compartment have from two to four strong, prominent, sharp, straight longitudinal ribs; these are sometimes irregular, and rarely, as will presently be described, they are absent. The radii are smooth and of considerable breadth; their summits are nearly parallel to the basis or only slightly oblique: hence the orifice is entire; it is rather small and ovate, being broad at the rostral end, and very sharp and narrow at the carinal end.
Dimensions.—The largest specimens which I have seen from Great Britain or Ireland, have been 1.3 of an inch in basal diameter: in Mr. Cuming’s collection, however, there was one much depressed specimen from the Shetland Islands, 2.1 in basal diameter: a regularly conical specimen from the coast of Massachussetts attained a nearly equal diameter; out of the glacial deposits in the Isle of Bute, Scotland, several specimens had this same diameter, namely, two inches, and were even more steeply conical, being 1.85 in height; some glacial specimens from Uddevalla and Canada, in Sir C. Lyell’s collection, were 1.7 in basal diameter. Hence, it appears, as we shall presently see is likewise the case with [B. crenatus] and [Hameri], that northern specimens, and those from the United States and from the glacial deposits, often exceed in dimensions those from Great Britain or Ireland.
Scutum: the lines or ridges of growth are broad and prominent; they are divided into square beads by fine striæ, radiating from the apex: and hence the valve is longitudinally striated. Internally, the articular ridge is extremely little prominent; the adductor ridge, or what must be called such, runs straight down under the articular ridge, making a deep longitudinal pit for the lateral depressor muscle. Tergum: the apex is a little produced, and coloured purple, as well as the upper internal surface of the valve; there is no longitudinal furrow, only a very slight depression: the spur is placed close to the basi-scutal angle; it is rather long, and measured across the upper part, is half as wide as the valve: its lower end is truncated and rounded; the basal margin slopes towards it. Internally, a very small portion of the scutal margin is inflected: the articular furrow is shallow and broad: the crests for the depressores are feeble. In young specimens the spur is bluntly pointed.
The Parietes ([4 e]) have large square parietal tubes: in the upper part these are filled up solidly without transverse septa: the longitudinal septa are finely denticulated at their bases, and the denticuli extend unusually close to the outer lamina. In very young specimens the inner lamina of the parietes is ribbed, in lines corresponding with the longitudinal septa, as is the case with most species of the genus; but in medium and large-sized specimens, there are between the ribs, thus produced, from one to four smaller ribs, which do not correspond with any longitudinal septa; they are finely denticulated at their bases, and may be considered as the representatives of longitudinal septa which have not been developed and reached the outer lamina. I have seen no other instance of this structure, namely, the presence of a greater number of ribs, on the inner lamina of the walls, than there are longitudinal septa. The radii have their summits generally parallel to the surface of attachment, as is usual in the first section of the genus, but sometimes they are slightly oblique: the septa sometimes rudely branch a little, but they exhibit scarcely a trace of denticuli: the interspaces are filled up quite solidly. The alæ have their summits very oblique; their sutural edges are finely crenated.
Basis, rather thin, translucent, not permeated by pores; obscurely furrowed in lines radiating from the centre: the circumference is marked in a peculiar manner by the longitudinal septa, and by the tips of those intermediate, denticulated ribs, which occur on the inner lamina of the parietes.
Mouth: labrum with six teeth: mandibles with the fourth and fifth teeth small and rudimentary: maxillæ, with a small notch under the upper pair of spines; in the lower part there is a single large spine. Cirri, dark brownish purple, making a singular contrast with the white operculum and shell; first pair, with one ramus, having twenty-six segments, and about twice as long as the shorter ramus, having twelve or thirteen segments, with their front surfaces protuberant. In the second pair the segments are but little protuberant: third pair about one third longer than the second pair: sixth pair, elongated, having in the same individual forty-six segments; these segments have shield-shaped fronts, bearing five pairs of spines, with some minute intermediate bristles. There is the usual point at the dorsal base of the penis.
Range: Geological History.—This species is common on the shores of Scotland and Ireland; the most southern point of Europe whence I have happened to see a specimen is Tenby, in South Wales: but I have no doubt it is found further south; and Mr. Jeffreys, who knows this species well, has found it common on the extreme southern shores of England. In the United States, it is found on the shores of Maine and Massachussetts: northward, I have seen specimens from Iceland, from Davis’s Straits, and from Lancaster Sound, in lat. 74° 48′ north; these latter I owe to Sir J. Richardson. It is an inhabitant of deep water; in Mr. Thompson’s collection there are several specimens from the Bay of Belfast, marked twenty-five fathoms, and one group said to have come from “about fifty fathoms, on the coast of Antrim:” one specimen from Cape St. Anne, Massachussetts, is marked as having come from only five fathoms. This species is commonly associated, on both sides of the Atlantic, with [B. crenatus], and sometimes with [B. Hameri] and [Verruca Strömia]: mollusca, such as pectens, modioli, and oysters, offer the most usual surfaces of attachment: I have, however, seen many specimens on crustaceans, on rocks, and even on the roots of the larger sea-weeds. This species is very common in the glacial deposits of Uddevalla, of Skien in Norway, and of Canada, and is associated with the same species as in the living state: I have seen, also, specimens from the same formation in the Island of Bute, Scotland. I have seen numerous specimens from the mammaliferous crag, and a few from the Red Crag of England. I owe to the kindness of Mr. J. de C. Sowerby an inspection of the original specimens of the B. tesselatus of the Mineral Conchology, which is certainly the present species.
Affinities.—This species is very distinct from every other; it comes nearest, as shown in all the characters derived from its opercular valves, to [B. nubilus], and in this latter species we have seen the basis plainly tending to lose its pores and thus become solid. [B. porcatus] is perhaps allied in some degree to [B. trigonus], and slightly to [B. crenatus]. The rather broad radii, with their summits hardly oblique, give this species a very different aspect from those species of the genus amongst which it must be placed.
Varieties.—A conical specimen, sent to me from the coast of Massachussetts, is remarkable from the radii not having been at all developed, being represented by mere fissures. I have seen a few specimens of var. (a), (one collected by Sir E. Parry in the arctic seas) which had a remarkably different aspect from the common forms, but which, after a careful examination of the opercular valves and of the animal’s body, I feel convinced are not specifically distinct: they are characterised by the walls being smooth and absolutely destitute of the external longitudinal ribs; by the shell being more cylindrical, with broader radii, and with the orifice larger and more rhomboidal; the walls and radii are much thinner, and the internal lamina is less plainly ribbed: the beak of the tergum is not purple. As most of these specimens had grown in a group crowded together, the difference of shape, and perhaps the thinness of the walls, is thus explained. In a specimen from Davis’s Straits, in Mr. A. Hancock’s collection, most of the above characters are in an intermediate condition; there are only a few external longitudinal ribs on the parietes; and the terga have not purple apices. In Mr. Cuming’s collection there are some fine, brilliantly white specimens (without opercula) from the coast of China; these have thin walls and radii, and the walls are not longitudinally ribbed, but they are not smooth: the orifice is not large, nor the shape of the whole shell cylindrical. It is just possible that these latter specimens may be a distinct and representative species, but I do not think so.