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MURICIDAE 213
Urosalpinx tampaensis Conrad Tampa Drill
Tampa Bay area, west Florida.
V2 to I inch in length; the light-brown aperture is thickened and the
outer lip has 6 small, white teeth. With about 9 to 1 1 sharp, axial ribs per
whorl, crossed by about 9 to i o equally strong spiral cords on the last whorl,
thus giving the shell a cancellate sculpture. The whorls in the spire show
only 2 spiral, nodulated cords. Exterior dark-gray. Common on mudflats.
Genus Purpura Bruguiere 1789
Purpura patula Linne Wide-mouthed Purpura
Southeast Florida and the West Indies.
Plate 25I
2 to 3/4 inches in length; without an umbilicus. Exterior dull, rusty-
gray. Columella salmon-pink. Inner borders of aperture with splotches of
blackish brown. Common in the West Indies, uncommon in Florida. The
animal exudes a harmless hquid which stains the hands and collecting bag a
permanent violet.
The subspecies pansa Gould (west coast of Mexico south to Columbia)
is similar in most respects, but the columella is colored a whitish cream.
Genus Thais Roding 1798
Subgenus Stramonita Schumacher 1817
Thais haemastoma floridaJia Conrad Florida Rock-shell
North Carolina to Florida, and the Caribbean.
Plate 25a
2 to 3 inches in length, solid, smooth to finely nodulose. Color light-
gray to yellowish with small flecks and irregular bars of brownish. Interior
of aperture salmon-pink, often with brown between the denticulations of the
outer lip. Running inside the aperture high up on the body whorl above the
parietal area, there is a strong spiral ridge. Some specimens have a faint fold
or phca on the base of the columella. This is a very common species, but
quite variable in shape and color pattern. Typical hae?7msto??M Lamarck oc-
curs in the Mediterranean and West Africa. See additional remarks under
Thais rustica.
Thais haemastoma haysae Clench Hays' Rock-shell
Northwest Floriaa to Texas.
This subspecies is characterized by its large size (up to 4% inches in