Page:American Seashells (1954).djvu/311

Rh Colus pubescens Verrill Hairy Colus Plate 231 Gulf of St. Lawrence to off North Carolina. 2 to 2% inches in length, very similar to stimpsoni, but the aperture is about % the entire length of the shell, the suture more abruptly impressed, the whorls slightly more convex and the siphonal canal usually, but not always, more twisted. Very commonly dredged from 18 to 640 fathoms. Colus pygmaea Gould Pygmy Colus Plate 23m Gulf of St. Lawrence to off North Carolina. Less than i inch in length, with 6 to 7 fairly convex whorls, fairly frag- ile, chalk-white, with spiral incised lines, and covered with a light olive-gray, thin, velvety periostracum. Aperture slightly more than % the length of the entire shell. Commonly dredged from i to 640 fathoms. Coins caelata Verrill and Smith (Massachusetts to North Carolina, deep water) is about the same size, but is characterized by about 12 strong axial ribs per whorl in addition to numerous fine spiral threads. It is chalky-white to gray. Colus spitzbergensis Reeve Spitzbergen Colus Figure 5ih Bering Sea to Washington State. Arctic Seas to Gulf of St. Lawrence. 2/4 to 3 inches in length, rather light-shelled, and with 6 fairly well- rounded whorls. Spire long and of about 30 to 35 degrees. Siphonal canal short; columella almost straight. Outer lip flaring, slightly thickened. Sculp- ture of numerous (12 to 14 between sutures) low, flat-topped, small, equally sized spiral cords. Chalk-gray with a reddish to yellowish brown, thin peri- ostracum. Commonly dredged from i to 142 fathoms. Genus Nepumea Roding 1798 Neptunea decevicostata Say Brown-corded Neptune Plate 23s Nova Scotia to Massachusetts. 3 to 4H inches in length, rather heavy. Characterized by its grayish- white, rather smooth shell which bears 7 to 10 very strong, reddish-brown, spiral cords. The upper whorls show 2 to 3 cords. There is an additional band of brown just below the suture. A common cold-water species found offshore, but occasionally washed up on New England beaches.