Three species of the Genus Rapata are found to occur in Chinese waters, namely, Rapana bezoar (L.), R. rapiformis (Born) and R. venosa(Valenciennes). R. bezoar(L.) is found in the Nan Hai (the South China Sea) and the Dong Hai (the East China Sea). We ohserved that there is latitudinal variation in the relative. breadth of its pseudo-umbilicus. Specimens found in the Dong Hai have a narrower pseudo-umbilicus far less typical than those found in the Nan Hai where the typical form with wider pseudo-umbilicus occurs. But so far we have not observed any morphological breaks within its geographic range,so we are inclined to consider them as representing two different local populations (eline) rather than as geographic subspecies. R. rapiformis (Born) occurs only in the Nan Hai. R. venosa (Valenciennes) is distributed mainly in the Huang Hai (the Yellow Sea.) and in the Bo Hai Wan (the Pohai Bay) and is also encountered as far south as Xiamen. Specimens collected from the open sea have rather small spines or even no spines, whereas those from the bay or :inshore areas are strongly spined. R. peichiliensis Grabau et King is merely an ecological form of R.venosa (Valenciennes). In addition to previously mentioned differences between R. venosa (Valenciennes) and R. bezoar (L.),we supply two more distinguishing features:(1) in R. venosa (Valenciennes) the spiral ribs on the expbsed surface of the shell are rather depressed, and the fine spiral ribs between them number 8-9 or more, while in R. bezoar (L.) they are rather raised, and the fine spiral ribs usually number 6-7 or 1ess. (2) In R. venosa(Valenciennes) ，the anterior end of the tip of the egg capsule is complete, while in R..bezoar (L.) it is truncate.