“OENOPOTA DAVISI sp. nov.
(Plate VIII., fig. 84.)
Shell ovate, rather thin, spire gradate. Colour buff. Whorls four, of which one and a half are nuclear. Sinus deep, subsutural, the fasciole forming a broad flat shelf. Sculpture: low, narrow, close-set, radial lamellæ, concave on the fasciole and forwardly directed on the body whorl, reticulated by fine close spiral incised lines which extend from the angle of the shoulder to the end of the snout. Aperture narrow oblong, outer lip thin and simple, canal short and broad, inner lip smoothed with a layer of callus.
Length, 7: breadth, 4mm.
This appears to be related to Bela plicatula Thiele,* but is broader and is more densely spirally striate. It is named in honour of Capt. J. K. Davis, and in remembrance of the excellent oceanographic work which he achieved on the “Aurora.”
Iredale has shown † that in its original sense Bela was synonymous with Mangilia. For the group generally but wrongly called Bela he recommended Morch’s name of Oenopota.
A single specimen, December 28th, 1913, from 288 fathoms, ooze, off the Mertz Glacier Tongue, Adelie Land, in South Lat. 66º 52’ and East Long. 145º 30’.
* Thiele.—Deutsche. Südpol. Exped. xiii., 1912, p. 215, pl. xiv., fig. 4.
† Iredale.—Proc. Malac. Soc., xi., 1915, p. 299.”
(Hedley, 1916: 54-55)
