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222 MOLLUSCA FROM MIOCENE AND LOWER PLIOCENE OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA
Eupleura caudata (Say)
Plate 29, figures 12, 13, 18, 19
1822. Ranclla caudata Say, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Jour.,
1st ser., vol. 2, p. 236.
1832. Ranella caudata Say, Am. Conchology, pl. 48, 2 views;
expl. text.
1856. Apollon cattdata (Say). Tuomey and Holmes, Pleiocene
fossils of South Carolina, p. 142, pl. 28, fig. 15.
1858. Eupleum caudata Say. Holmes, Post-Pleiocene fossils of
South Carolina, p. 62, pl. 10, fig. 3.
1865. Eupleura caudata Say. Stimpson, Am. Jour. Conchology,
vol. 1, p. 58, pl. 8, fig. 5 (radula).
1889. Eupleum caudata Say. Dall, Harvard Coli. Mus. Comp.
Zoology Bull., vol. 18, p. 202.
1889. Eupleum caudata Say. Dall, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 37,
p. 120, pl. 50, fig. 11.
1890. · Eupleura cattdata Say. Dall, Wagner Free lust. Sci.
Trans., vol. 3, pt. 1, p! 144.
1908. Eupleura caudata Say. Rogers, Shell book, p. 39, pl. 10,
· opp. p. 42, fig. 6.
Shell pale reddish-brown, cancellate with eleven robust costa
to the body whirl, and several revolving filiform lines passing
over them, which are more prominent upon the varice of the
aperture, terminate at its inner edge, and there alternate with
the raised lines of the fauces; volutions flattened at their summits,
abruptly declining to the suture; canal coarctate, rather
longer than the spire; beak rectilinear, reflected at the tip.
Length one inch.
Inhabits the coast of the United States.-Say, 1822.
Shell rather small; outline fusiform, the maximum
diameter at or a little behind the median line. Spire conspicuously
scalariform. Varices 11, persistent to the
base of the anterior canal, continuous; the series performing
half of a complete revolution around the axis
of the shell, the edges usually free and produced into
short, linguiform processes at the shoulder of the whorl.
Spiral sculpture varying rather widely in the degree of
pron1inence; lirae well rounded, moderately elevated,
2 or 3 upon the whorls of the spire, the posterior outlining
the shoulder, a second midway between the shoulder
and the anterior suture and sometilnes a th:lrd directly
behind the suture; 5 or 6 prin1aries present on the body
whorl with an occasional fortuitous secondary on the
shoulder. Pillar sculptured with 3 to 5 lirations that
tend to weaken and evanesce anteriorly. Whorls. closely
appressed, the suture inconspicuous. Aperture obliquely
ovate. Columellar 1nargin very feebly concave. Parietal
wall heavily ena1neled, the callus continous with
the inner lining of the labrum. Labrum varicose, denticulate
within, the· denticles corresponding to the interspirals;
feebly channelled at the commissure and at the·
shoulder. Anterior canal long, the margins parallel
and proximate, but not coalescent, very slightly recurved
at the base.
Dimensions of figured adult: Height, 25 mm.; maximum
diameter, 12 mm. Dimensions of figured juvenile:
Height, 14.3 mm.; maximum dian1eter, 6.5 mm.
Figured adult: U. S. N. M. 325421, from N eills Eddy
Landing, Cape Fear River, 3 miles north of Cronly,
N.C. Waccamaw formation. Figured juvenile: U.S.
N. M. 325420, from 1 mile northeast of Suffolk, N ansemond
County, V a. Yorktown formation.
Eupleu.ra caudata Say is the only representative of
the genus within the Tertiary of Virginia and North
Carolina and is readily recognizable by its angular outline,
numerous varices, and coarse but not very vigorous
spirai seulpture. The species when adult shows the
eharacteristic Ranella-like tendency in the exaggeration
of the varix opposite the labrum.
Mansfield, 1930, figured two subspecific forms of
E1.tple·ura caudata from the 0 ancellaria zone of the
Choctawhatchee formation. His subspecies leonensis is
larger and coarser than any of the Duplin and Waccamaw
individuals, and his brevispira is well-named,
for the spire is lower even than in Dall's subspecies sulcidentata.
Distribution: Virginia: Yorktown formation, Maddelys Bluff
on the Meherrin River, Southampton County; 1 mile northeast
of Suffolk, and half a mile below the Suffolk waterworks
dam, Nansemond County.
North Carolina: Croatan sand, Slocum's Creek, 15 miles below
New Bern, Neuse River, Craven County. 'Vaccamaw formation,
Walkers Bluff on the Cape Fear River, Bladen County;
Neills Eddy Landing on the Cape Fear River, Columbus County.
Outside distribution: Pliocene, Waccamaw formation, Tilly
Lake, Horry County, S. C. Caloosahatchee marl, Caloosahatchee
River, Fla. Pleistocene, Sankaty Head, Mass.; Heislerville,
N.J.; Wailes Bluff and Federalsburg, Md.; Dismal Swamp
Canal between posts 15 and 16, Va.; Simmons Bluff, S. C.; Labelle,
Hendry County, Fla. Recent, Cape Cod to the West Indies
and east to Bermuda; dredged by Woods Hole Survey in
3 to 13 fathoms, chiefly on muddy bottoms.
Eupleura caudata sulcidentata Dall
Plate 29, figure 17
1890. Eupleura caudata var. sulcidentata Dall, Wagner Free
lnst. Sci. Trans., vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 144.
This variety is characterized by its thinner, more expanded.
and recurved varices, its generally whiter color, larger size,
and has, in the adult, on the back, three intervarical, fiattish,
transverse ribs and two or three in front. The spire is rather
more eleva ted than in the typical caudata, and except on the
varices, the spiral threads are often absent or obsolete. Young
shells have mO're intervarical ribs than adults.-Dall, 1890.
Type locality: Florida l(eys.
Di1nensions of figured specimen: Height, 23.9 mm. ;
maximum dian1eter, 13.5 1nm.
Figured specimen: U.S.N.M. 54393.
. Locality of figured specimen : Recent, from Egmont
Key, Fla.
Distribution: North Carolina: Yorktown formation, Rock
Landing on the Neuse River, Craven County. A single young
individual is tentatively referred to this subspecies because of
the widely flaring varices and the obsolete spiral sculpture. It
does not, however, exhibit the intervarical ribs which presumably
characterize the subspecies.
Outside distribution: Pleistocene, Florida (Dall). Recent,
west coast of Florida to Cuba.