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Family Liotiidae

SHELL small, solid, turban-shaped, body whorl large, with longitudinal and spiral ribs and thickened lip; aperture round; operculum many-whorled, horny, with limy layer.

Genus LIOTIA, Gray

Characters of the family. Chiefly tropical species, in Pacific and Indian Oceans. A few West Indian species.

Two small species inhabit shores of Santa Catalina Island, California. L. fenestrata, Cpr., is a much depressed, oblique shell, regularly sculptured by cross ridges and deep fissures. The lip is thick; the umbilicus wide and deep. Diameter, 1/6 to 1/3 inch. L. acuticosta, Cpr., has no cross ridges cutting its whorls; their angles are set with faint nodules. It is 1/6 inch in diameter, and less flattened than the previous species. There is no umbilicus. Both species are yellowish white.

L. Bairdii, Dall, a minute, few-whorled turban, 1/4 inch in both diameters, is one of several southern species.

Habitat.--Cape Hatteras southward.