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OLIVIDAE 245
7 to 14 inches in length, very heavy. Color cream-white with a thick,
light-brown periostracum. Interior often tinged with glossy, pinkish cream
or deep, brownish orange. Columella bears 3 strong, widely spaced folds.
Middle of whorl on inside of aperture often with a spiral, weak ridge. A lefthanded
specimen of this species would be worth its weight in silver. Once
called Turbinella scolyma Gmelin. Common in the Bahamas and Cuba.
Subfamily VASINAE
Genus Vasum Roding 1798
Vasum muricatum Born Caribbean Vase
South half of Florida and the West Indies.
Plate 23I
2% to 4 inches in length, heavy. Blunt spines are at the shoulder and
near the base. Shell chalk-white, covered by thick, black-brown periostra-
cum. Aperture glossy-white and with a purplish tinge. Columella with 5
strong folds, the first and third being the largest. Rather common, often in
pairs, in shallow water. Preys on worms and clams.
The subspecies coestiis Broderip 1833 (Panamanian Vase) occurs from
the Gulf of California to Panama, and differs only in having 4 (rarely 5)
columella folds and in having heavier spiral cords. It is common.
Superfajnily VOLUTACEA
Fa7jnly OLIVIDAE
Genus Oliva Bruguiere 1789
Olha say ana Ravenel Lettered Olive
North Carolina to Florida and the Gulf States.
Plate 12a
2 to 2% inches in length, moderately elongate, with a glossy finish and
with rather flat sides. Color grayish tan with numerous purplish brown and
chocolate-brown, tent-like markings. A common species found at night
crawling in sand in shallow water. Formerly called O. litterata Lamarck.
Do not confuse with O. reticularis which is generally smaller, which has a
much more shallow canal at the suture, whose apical whorls are slightly convex
instead of slightly concave, and whose sides of the whorls are more
convex. Dead specimens buried for a long time in bay mud may take on an
artificial black coloration.
Oliva reticularis Lamarck Netted Olive
Southeast Florida and the West Indies.
Plate I2C