Original Combination:

Named for American Malacologist Henry D. Van Nostrand

Original Description:

Shell about the size and general contour of O. fuliginosa; umbilicate, color rich reddish-chestnut with a dull satiny luster above, smoother and more polished below. Striae of growth fine and close, crossed by microscopic granules in spiral series like beads, giving the upper surface a dull luster; below the granules are obsolete and the surface polished. Apex smooth, and in all adult specimens seen denuded of the epidermis. Whorls 5 1/2, rather flattened and slowly increasing, the last whorl very much wider, more than double the width of the preceding one, almost round, no flattening on the base. Aperture oblique, circular. No thickening at the lip, which is darker than the balance of the shell.
Greater diameter 27, lesser 23 1/2, altitude 17 1/2 mm. Oblique height of aperture 14, width 14 mm.
Greater diam. 24, lesser 21, alt. 14.5 mm.
On hillsides in woods around Wetumpka, Ala. Collected by Herbert H. Smith.
From above this shell has much the appearance of the large granulated variety of O. Iaevigata found with it, but it lacks the close ribs of that species, and the embryonic whorls are smooth, while in Iaevigata they are sharply ribbed. On the base the resemblance is less striking, as Iaevigata. has a very small umbilicus, the base is flattened, and the internal white thickening makes the base several shades lighter than the upper surface.
This is one of the finest of the Omphalinas, and while it is quite common around Wetumpka, it appears to have been entirely overlooked by collectors. I take great pleasure in naming it after Dr. H. A. Pilsbry, who is doing so much to clear up the dark places in American Conchology. Type in my collection, and cotypes in the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences, National Museum, etc.