_General Appearance._--Shell conical, with a rather large diamond-shaped orifice, moderately or but little toothed; very smooth; walls never folded longitudinally; white, with an extremely thin pale-yellow persistent epidermis. The radii are very narrow, with their summits very oblique, rounded, and smooth; the epidermis is generally more persistent on the radii than on other parts, and this is exactly the reverse of what is common with _B. eburneus_. The specimens from nearly fresh-water in the R. Plata (hereafter to be mentioned), are brownish, and have undergone a remarkable degree of corrosion, the outer lamina of the walls having been entirely removed to near the base; hence the external aspect of these specimens is wholly different from ordinary individuals. The _var. assimilis_ has also a very different appearance, owing to the dead white of the walls being relieved by narrow approximate longitudinal hyaline lines, corresponding with and caused by the longitudinal parietal septa being externally visible through the outer lamina of the parietes; the epidermis on the radii is also of a rather brighter yellow. The largest specimens which I have seen are those from the Plata, and those attached to a ship from the West Indies, and they had a basal diameter of .6 of an inch: from .4 to .5 of an inch is the more usual full average size. _Scuta_, with the lines of growth but little prominent: articular ridge prominent, but little reflexed: adductor ridge straight and very prominent, varying a little in its distance from the articular ridge; there is scarcely any depression for the lateral depressor muscle; the upper internal surface of the valve is roughened with ridges. _Terga_, with a moderately deep longitudinal furrow; spur short, rather narrow, with the end rounded, placed at less than its own width from the basi-scutal angle; in the Rio Plata specimens the spur is close to this angle: the basal margin is generally straight on opposite sides of the spur, but sometimes on the carinal side it is a little hollowed out. The lines of growth are upturned along the carinal margin, which consequently is a little protuberant, but to a varying degree. The crests for the depressores are extremely distinct and prominent. In the varieties having the basi-carinal margin hollowed out, and the carinal margin protuberant, there is a marked resemblance to the peculiar tergum of _B. eburneus_.