Bulletin - United States National Museum - Smithsonian Institution

140 BULLETIN 91, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.
NATICA SALDONTIANA, new species.
Plate 13, figs. 1, 2, 3.
Shell small, subglobose, with well-elevated spire. Early whorls
badly eroded in our specimens, those remaining, well rounded, marked
with strong, retractive lines of growth, which are strongest near the
summit, weakening somewhat as they pass over the body of the
whorls. Periphery and base of the last whorl well rounded, the latter
very narrowly umbilicated. Aperture oval, bluish white within ; outer
lip thin; inner lip thin, strongly curved and very slightly reflected;
parietal wall covered with a thick callus, which extends down to the
inner lip and practically covers up the umbilicus, forming a rounded
patch over it. The general coloration of the shell is bluish gray, with
numerous fine, brown, wavy lines, which coincide in a general way
with the lines of growth. There is a tendency on the part of these
lines to become consolidated into brown spots at the summit, par-
ticularly on the last portion of the last whorl.
The type and another specimen, Cat. No. 163024, U.S.N.M., were
dredged in 27 fathoms in Saldontia Bay. The type has four and one
half whorls and measures: Length, 14.2 mm.; diameter, 13.6 mm.
This shell comes nearest to Natica nemo Bartsch, but has a more
elevated spire and has the parietal callus extending down over the
umbilicus; it also lacks the strongly impressed notchings at the summit.
NATICA, species?
Cat. No. 187081, U.S.N.M., contains three specimens from Port
Alfred (Coll. No. 623), which appear to belong to a new species. The
color markings of these shells are so badly faded that we refrain from
describing the specimens. Cat. No. 249749, U.S.N.M., two equally
poor specimens from Port Alfred (Coll. No. 1021).
Cat. No. 250484, U.S.N.M., contains a large, low, broad Natica,
with a dark umbilical callus, which is too poor to be identified, from
Port Alfred (Coll. No. 1357).
Cat. No. 249773, U.S.N.M., contains three nepionic shells of a
Natica, from Port Alfred (Coll. No. 1045).
Family VANIKOROIDAE.
Genus VANIKORO Quoy and Gaimard,
VANIKORO AFRICANA, new species.
Plate 36, fig. 11.
Shell small, translucent, bluish white. Nuclear whorls one and a
half, well rounded, smooth. Postnuclear turns one and a half, well
rounded, ornamented with many decidedly retractive axial riblets
which are stronger and more distantly spaced on the first turn than