"STROPHIA NEGLECTA Novo.
Neglected Strophia.
FIG. 47, A, front view, B, side view of type.
DESCRIPTION.
Sr. CH. Size medium. Shell, heavy. Striations, present.
Whirls, nine.
Form of shell, rather oval, the first and second whirls being
about equal in diameter. Then the shell slopes to a quite acute point, forming an angle of sixty-two degrees. The striations are few, fifteen to the first whirl, are very irregular, and not arranged in lines; those on the first whirl are many of them straight, but some are inclined from right to left; on the remaining whirls all are inclined, but some more than others, hence the striations present a peculiarly broken appearance; they are partly rounded, and although not furrowed, are broken and roughened in many places. They are narrow, not one half as wide as the interspaces between them.
Aperture, not large, well arched above, and very slightly contracted at the entrance. Lower tooth, not very prominent, about .02 high, and about twice as long as high, width about equaling height; its position is about central, and slightly elevated. Upper tooth, placed quite high, considerably above the top of the lower tooth, is about one half as large as the lower.
Margin not produced forward quite as far as the diameter of the shell, is placed a little to the right of the center of the shell, and is very slightly inclined to the right; it is about twice as thick as the shell behind it, with the edge beveled and produced into a sharpened edge, which is, however, not rolled backward. The frontal bar is not well developed, not protruding beyond the striations, but completely interrupts them.
Color of shell, externally, ashy throughout, striations and all; internally, pale brown, becoming paler on teeth and margin.
DIMENSIONS.
Size of type, .92 by .45. Largest specimen. 1.03 by .40: smallest, .77 by .40. Greatest diameter, .50; smallest, .40. Longest specimen, 1.00; shortest, .77.
OBSERVATIONS.
Individual variation is toward a larger shell, with a thicker
margin and with more striations, but not in any marked degree, on one hand, and toward a smaller form with a thinner margin and fewer striations.
This singular Strophia may be at once distinguished from any other by the peculiar ashy color, which in many specimens has a decidedly bluish cast, but more particularly by the wide apart, irregular striations, which, being inclined in different degrees, give the shell a singularly rough appearance, in-so-much so, that I know of no shell of this genns that approaches it in these particulars.
This species often occurs in collections labeleld as S. glans, but the glans of Kuster, as figured by him, as cited, under that head, further on in this monograph, is a white shell, with rather numerous, quite regular, striations, and does not at all resemble S. neglecta, excepting possibly in being of an oval form.
HABITS AND DISTRIBUTION.
In January, 1884, I found the Neglected Strophia on the borders of a deserted plantation on New Providence about a mile west of Fort Charlotte. Here they were abundantm clinging to the bushes, and were also on the fence that divided the pantation from the raod that runs from Nassau to the westward. All gathered in the locality at that time were typical.
Nine years later in March, 1893, I visited the spot and found the plantation recultivated. The bushes were uprooted, and the entire locality changed into sisal hemp fields. On these plants, a long in being covered; thus it was that I found so many dead shells on the surface.
Why the species did not retreat to the rocks on either side can be explained by supposing that the shrubbery there was not of the proper kind for their sustenance, for it is a fact that the species of Strophia live by preference upon particular trees, shrubs or herbiage, as I have shown in several cases, and seen in several others.
One other fact remains to be mentioned before closing this brief history of the Ivory Strophia, and that is that I discovered a single specimen of what I must at present consider as this species (although it is too stout, lacks the upper tooth, and differs somewhat otherwise to be quite typical) on a key that lies about a half mile north of U Key, which I have called Pimlico Key, on account of the abundance of the Pimlico, or Audobon's Shearwater which inhabit it. I did not find a single specimen, besides this, of any form of Strophia, either living or dead, on the key, therefore conclude that this must have been drifted there by ocean currents."
