Bulletin - United States National Museum - Smithsonian Institution

SOUTH AFEICAN MARINE MOLLUSKS. 67
MELANELLA IOTA, new species.
Plate 19, fig. 2.
Shell exceedingly minute, translucent, bluish white, falcate. The
whorls are almost flattened, appressed at the summit, separated by a
scarcely perceptible suture, and of glassy texture, marked by an
occasional inconspicuous varix. Periphery of the last whorl well
rounded. Base somewhat attenuated, well rounded. Aperture oval;
outer lip thin, clavate; inner lip short, strongly curved and ap-
pressed; parietal wall covered by a thick callus.
The type .and three specimens, Cat. No. 187080, U.S.NM., come
from Port Alfred (Coll. No. 621). The type has seven whorls, and
measures: Length, 1.5 mm.; diameter, 0.5 mm.
Cat. No. 250378, U.S.N.M., contains two additional specimens from
the same locality (Coll. No. 1251).
MELANELLA DISTINCTA Smith.
Cat. No. 187075, U.S.N.M., contains two specimens from Port
Alfred (Coll. No. 616).
MELANELLA LANGLEYI Sowerby.
Cat. No. 186856, U.S.N.M., six specimens from Port Alfred (Coll.
No. 226).
MELANELLA FARICA, new species.
Plate 20, fig. 1.
Shell small, very irregularly elongate-conic, semitranslucent, bluish
white. Postnuclear whorls well rounded, creeping up on the preceding
turns and giving the outline at the summit a somewhat excurved
aspect, the extreme summit being very feebly shouldered. This,
taken together with the fact that the posterior limit of the inside
of the whorls shines through the substance of the shell, gives the
whorls the appearance of having a spiral cord at the summit. The
whorls are very high between the sutures, and are smooth and pol-
ished, bearing varices at intervals of slightly more than one-half a
turn, thus forming almost two lines of varices on the two sides of the
shell. Sutures strongly marked. Periphery of the last whorl well
rounded. Base attenuated. Aperture oval; posterior angle acute;
outer lip produced into a claw-like element in its middle; inner lip
almost straight, oblique, reflected over and adnate to the body
whorl; parietal wall covered with a thick callus, which renders the
peritreme complete.
The type and another specimen, Cat. No. 249711, U.S.N.M., come
from Port Alfred (Coll. No. 983). The type has seven whorls, and
measures: Length, 3 mm.; diameter, 0.8 mm.
Cat. No. 250379, U.S.N.M., contains another specimen of this
species from the same locality (Coll. No. 1252).