composed of two to five confluent roundish pores. Surface a little thorny. The single polar spine pyramidal, as broad at the base as one mesh, one-third as long as the axis.
Dimensions.—Major axis 0.12, minor axis 0.1; pores 0.01 to 0.02, bars 0.002 to 0.006; length of the single polar spine 0.03, basal thickness 0.02.
Habitat.—Central area of the Pacific, Station 270, depth 2925 fathoms.
3. Lithapium monocyrtis, n. sp. (Pl. 14, fig. 10).
Proportion of the longer axis to the shorter = 7 : 6. Shell thick walled, with irregular, lobed meshes, four to six on the half equator, three to six times as broad as the bars; each mesh composed of three to six confluent roundish pores. Surface quite smooth, without thorns. The single polar spine pyramidal, as broad at the base as the largest mesh, half as long as the radius. (This species is closely allied to the foregoing, but differs in the smooth surface and the larger meshes.)
Dimensions.—Major axis 0.15, minor axis 0.13; pores 0.01 to 0.03, bars 0.003 to 0.01; length of the single spine 0.04, basal thickness 0.03.
Habitat.—Central area of the Pacific, Station 268, depth 2900 fathoms.
Genus 130. Pipettella,[1] n. gen.
Definition.—Ellipsida with simple ellipsoidal shell, the main axis of which is prolonged at the pole into two opposite hollow fenestrated tubes of equal size and similar form.
The genus Pipettella is distinguished from the other Ellipsida by two hollow perforated tubes, which are directed in the longer axis of the ellipsoidal shell and arise from opposite poles of this axis. It may be derived from Cenellipsis by prolongation of both poles of the main axis. As the same peculiar production of two opposite latticed tubuli at the poles of the main axis obtains in nearly all families of Prunoidea (Pipetta, Cannartus, Panarium, Zygartus, &c.), it may possess a peculiar value in this group.
1. Pipettella fusiformis, n. sp.
Shell spindle-shaped, thin walled, the two opposite tubes being conical and not longer than the short transverse axis of the ellipsoidal shell; no sharp demarcation between them. The two axes of the ellipsoid bear the proportion of 3 : 2. Network of the shell and of the tubes equal, delicate, regular, hexagonal, with circular apertures of equal size; fourteen to sixteen on the half equator of the shell. Bars very thin. The shell of this species is similar to that of Cannartiscus amphiconiscus (Pl. 39, fig. 19), but possesses no equatorial stricture and no medullary shell.
Dimensions.—Longer axis of the ellipsoid 0.18, shorter axis 0.12; length of the tubes 0.1, their basal breadth 0.05; pores of the network 0.01, bars 0.001.
Habitat.—Northern Pacific, Station 244, depth 2900 fathoms.
- ↑ Pipettella = Small pipette.
