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220 American Seashells
% to i^ inches in length, soHd, grayish white, rather misshapen, with
rounded or squared shoulders, and with or without weak, rounded axial
ridges. Spiral sculpture of crowded, variously sized spiral cords which are
made up of numerous microscopic scales. Aperture enamel-white, rounded
above and constricted into a short siphonal canal below. Umbilicus small,
shallow and funnel-shaped. A common species found living in the bases of
seafans. C. deburghiae Reeve is a deep-water form or species with long, tri-
angular ribs projecting straight out from the periphery of the whorl. It is
uncommon.
Subgenus Latiaxis Swainson 1840
Coralliophila costata Blainville California Latiaxis
Point Conception, Cahfornia, to Panama.
I to I % inches in length, variable in shape and the development of frills
and spines. Deep-water forms (called hindsi Carpenter) bear triangular, flat-
tened, up-turned spines on the periphery of the whorl. Spiral cords are
strongly scaled. Color light-gray with an enamel-white aperture. Moder-
ately common offshore. A choice collector's item.
Superfamily BUCCINACEA
Family COLUMBELLIDAE
(Pyrenidae)
Genus Colmnbella Lamarck 1799
Columbella 7nercatoria Linne Common Dove-shell
Southeast Florida and the West Indies.
Plate 25bb
% to % inch in length, solid, squat, highly colored with white and
brown, interrupted spiral bars over yellow, pink or orange background.
Sometimes only maculated with one color (orange, brown or yellow). Outer
lip thick, bearing about a dozen white teeth. A common shallow-water spe-
cies frequently cast up on beaches. Not found on the west coast of Florida.
Colwnbella rusticoides Heilprin Rusty Dove-shell
Key West north along the west coast of Florida.
Similar to C. mercatoria, but much more slender, smooth on the center
of the body whorl, and with mauve-brown marks between the apertural
teeth. Also more faintly colored and lacking spiral bars or lines of brown.
Common down to 20 feet.
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