Shell nearly spindle-shaped, with two deep strictures. Length of the three joints = 1 : 2 : 4, breadth = 1 : 3 : 3. Cephalis hemispherical, with a slender, conical, curved horn, as long as the hemispherical thorax. Abdomen inversely campanulate, prolonged into a short, conical, latticed tube. Pores subregular, circular. Three wings arising by a narrow base from the uppermost part of the abdomen, slender, cylindrical, S-shaped, curved, divergent, with a thick scaly appendix like a fir-cone at the distal end.

Dimensions.—Length of the three joints, a 0.025, b 0.07, c 0.14; breadth, a 0.03, b 0.09, c 0.08.

Habitat.—Central Pacific, Station 268, depth 2900 fathoms.

Genus 599. Rhopalatractus,[[216]] Haeckel, 1881, Prodromus, p. 437.

Definition.—Theoperida (vel Tricyrtida triradiata clausa) with three lateral wings on the sides of the inversely conical abdomen, which bears a vertical terminal horn on the basal apex.

The genus Rhopalatractus, one of the most remarkable forms of Tricyrtida, differs from the preceding Rhopalocanium, its ancestral form, in the production of a vertical, basal horn, which descends from the basal apex of the inversely conical abdomen, and is opposed to the upper apical horn of the cephalis. The shell becomes here, therefore, exquisitely spindle-shaped.

1. Rhopalatractus pentacanthus, n. sp. (Pl. [68], fig. 11).

Shell very thick-walled, with two sharp strictures. Length of the three joints = 1 : 6 : 8, breadth = 1 : 6 : 7. Cephalis hemispherical, with conical cavity, and a conical horn of twice the length. Thorax subspherical, separated from the abdomen by a deep lumbar stricture, with small, regular, circular, hexagonally-framed pores. Abdomen three-sided prismatic, with three strong, prominent, wing-shaped edges, which are slightly divergent towards the base, and prolonged into three pyramidal feet about as long as the thorax. Pores of the abdomen disposed in longitudinal rows, which are separated by denticulate crests. Abdominal base inversely pyramidal, and prolonged into a very large, cylindrical, basal, axial spine, nearly as long as the whole shell.

Dimensions.—Length of the three joints, a 0.02, b 0.12, c 0.15; breadth, a 0.03, b 0.11, c 0.14.

Habitat.—Central Pacific, Station 268, depth 2900 fathoms.