Page:American Seashells (1954).djvu/327

Rh 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 left- handed 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 Plate 23I South half of Florida and the West Indies. 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 Plate 12a North Carolina to Florida and the Gulf States. 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 con- vex 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 Plate I2C Southeast Florida and the West Indies.