Art. XXXVI.—Notes on some New Zealand Marine Molluscs.

By Tom Iredale.

The small size and constant coloration induced me to separate these shells from I. longicymba, Q. and G. At that time I did not know of the existence of I. fulvus, Suster, and consequently these specimens remained unnamed in my collection.

At Shag Point, Otago, and all round the Otago Peninsula this species is abundant. It usually lives on clean smooth stones, unassociated with I. longicymba, Q. and G. When the two occur on the same stone, I. fulvus, Suster, is on the clean edge, whilst I. longicymba, Q. and G., is on the muddy side underneath.

I. fulvus, Suster, is as variable as regards colour as almost any other Chiton, but is almost always unicoloured; it runs through all the shades from pure-white through pale-yellow to fulvous and red-brown. The most striking shell, however, is a deep-green, with a green-and-white girdle.

I might here point out that very probably two or three species are doing duty in New Zealand collections for I. longicymba, Q. and G.

Whilst closely searching for Chiton stangeri, Reeve, I obtained a small-keeled Ischnochiton which I have not again found. I have, however, found another species of Ischnochiton which I have not been able to identify with any Australian species. This is a low-keeled species, with the lateral areas sculptured like I. divergens, Reeve, and a peculiar pattern of coloration.

Callochiton platessa (Gould).

Callochiton platessa (Gould), Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. ii, p. 184, 1897.

This quotation gives full references, and is the only record of this Australian species in New Zealand. The specimen there referred to is of unknown habitat, and was obtained prior to 1872.

The refinding of this species is, therefore, worthy of record. Collecting at Shag Point, Otago, with Mr. W. R. Brook Oliver, he found one specimen, and afterwards I obtained two more. These were obtained from under stones at the bottom of a deep rock-pool. I identified these from specimens from Port Jackson, New South Wales.

This makes the third species of Callochiton I have obtained whilst littoral collecting—a curious circumstance when it is remembered that all the previous records of this restricted genus in New Zealand refer to dredged specimens.

In the same pool that contained the C. platessa was found a single specimen of a new species of Acanthochites. This species is too well characterized to be the second species of Acanthochites mentioned by Pilsbry (Man. Conch., ser. i, vol. xv, p. 16).

Plaxiphora ovata (Hutton).

Plaxiphora ovata (Hutton), Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. ii, p. 191, 1897.

References are given in this paper, where Suter writes, “This handsome but rare mollusc is found mostly in roots of D'Urvillea.” I have never yet found it on any other station, and, searching for specimens at Sandfly Bay, Otago Peninsula, my friend Mr. W. R. Brook Oliver obtained a lovely specimen with six valves only.

In the succeeding note, written previously to this find, the rarity of this find is shown. As this is the first occurrence in New Zealand of such an abnormal specimen, I am giving an illustration of it (Plate XXXI, fig. 1). In this specimen it will be noticed that the last valve is of unusual size for this species, the shape of the last valve in normal specimens being one of the chief characters of the subgenus Fremblya, which includes only one other species, P. egregia, H. Adams, of New South Wales.

Chiton pellis-serpentis, Quoy and Gaimard.

Chiton pellis-serpentis, Q. and G., Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. ii, p. 195, 1897.

In the paper quoted, Suter gives full references. I have to record the occurrence of a specimen of this species having five valves only, and herewith give an illustration from a photograph (Plate XXXI, fig. 2). This specimen is, as far as I can trace, unique.

Pilsbry wrote (Man. Conch., vol. xiv, p. xiii, 1894), “The occurrence of 6- and 7-valved Chitons has been noted as early as the time of Linnæus. It is likely that the 6-valved were artificial fabrications, although a certain number may perhaps be traced to incorrect drawings.” Since the publication of Pilsbry's monograph increased interest in the collecting of Chitons has caused undoubted instances to be put on record.

In the Proc. Mal. Soc, vol. ii, p. 154, 1897, Bednall records the occurrence of a 6-valved specimen of Plaxiphora conspersa (Ad. and Ang.). Sykes, in his presidential address on “Variation in Recent Mollusca” (Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vi, p. 268, 1905), mentioned that 6-valved specimens of Trachydermon ruber, Linné, and Ischnochiton conspicuus, Cpr., had recently been noted elsewhere, and that he himself had met with a 3-valved specimen of Ischnochiton contractus, Reeve, which is preserved in the British Museum.

Chiton æreus, Reeve.

Chiton æreus, Reeve, Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. ii, p. 195, 1897.

Suter's references refer to this species, though his letterpress does not, as has since been pointed out by himself. The following year Suter queried New Zealand as the habitat of this species (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxi, p. 63, 1898 [1899]), yet on the east coast of the South Island this species cannot be considered rare. I can get specimens any day I wish in Lyttelton Harbour, and have obtained specimens at every other locality I have visited on Banks Peninsula. It is common at Shag Point, Otago, and all round the Otago Peninsula.

The normal colouring of this Chiton is a bluish-green, sometimes with the girdle marked with white. Yellow-green occurs in some localities; pure-lemon-yellow, yellowish-white, pure-white, pure-coloured, and bright-red-brown specimens are also rarely met with. In Otago, however, shells occur which I call albinos. So far I have obtained five distinct types. The general apperarance of the shell is white: first, in which the whole is splashed with greenish-black; then, the valves are pure-white, with the girdle blackish-brown; next, the shell is pure-white with a greenish tinge, the girdle green-and-white; a fourth has the valves speckled with green and suffused with yellow, the girdle green-and-white; lastly, the valves suffused with greenish and the girdle pink.

Acmæa rubiginosa (Hutton).

Acmæa rubiginosa (Hutton), Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vii, p. 315, 1907.

Upon shells of Haliotis iris, Martyn, at Lyttelton occur Acmæas. I separated them as lacunosa (=rubiginosa) and cingulata. Upon reading Suter's paper I re-examined my specimens, comparing them with undoubted specimens of A. rubiginosa, Hutton, from the Chathams, with the result that I consider my shells identical. At Shag Point, Otago, I first found dead shells and then live ones on Haliotis iris again. The dead shells are inseparable from the dead shells from the Chathams.

Acmæa cantharus (Reeve).

Acmæa cantharus (Reeve), Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vii, p. 320, 1907.

In the paper quoted Suter restricts A. cantharus, Reeve, to New Zealand. As in that paper he does not discuss the relationships of the shells listed in Australia under that name, I here do so. That this is necessary for the understanding of

No stress can be laid upon the position of the apex, as under A. pileopsis, Q. and G., Suter writes, “The situation of the apex is also variable, but in the majority of shells it is marginal.”

The inside coloration varies much; it may be brown, yellowish-brown, yellowish-white, pale-blue, or bluish-white. This last colour, which Suter mentions as typical of A. pileopsis, Q. and G., is the usual colour of the inside, between the marginal band and the spatula, of very large shells.

Dark shells, sparsely blotched with white, and very distinctly striated, were collected at Lyttelton. Many of these shells show a colour-pattern of a very peculiar character—viz., from the apex to about half-way down the margin of each side runs a series of white blotches; when the shell is held up to the light and viewed from the inside these blotches are clearly seen, though other blotches visible on the outer surface are not.

Shells tessellated with white, apparently smooth, undoubtedly referable to cantharus were collected at Shag Point, Otago. No signs of this colour-pattern were apparent on the outer surface, yet when the shells were held up to the light these blotches were the only ones visible from the inside. This unexpected find was, to me, convincing evidence of the specific identity of the two shells.

I am therefore compelled to reduce A. cantharus, Reeve, to an absolute synonym of A. pileopsis, Q. and G.

The specimens which furnished the material for this review were collected at Waipara Rocks, North Canterbury; Taylor's Mistake Bay, near Summer; Lyttelton Harbour; south coast of Banks Peninsula; Shag Point; near Cape Saunders; and at Sandfly Bay, Otago Peninsula.

An analysis of the habitats of A. pileopsis, Q. and G., and A. cantharus, Reeve, as recorded by Suter, gives: A. pileopsis, Q. and G.—North Island; South Island as far south as Lyttelton; Snares Islands; Auckland Islands; Campbell Island. A. cantharus, Reeve—West coast of South Island; east coast of South Island, from Oamaru down; Macquarie Island.

Therefore, instead, we now have—Acmæa pileopsis, Q. and G. (synonym, Acmæa cantharus, Reeve, Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vii, p. 320, 1907): Both islands of New Zealand; all the subantarctic islands.

Acmæa parviconoidea, Suter.

Acmæa parviconoidea, Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vii, p. 321, 1907.

To the localities mentioned by Suter I can add, near Cape Saunders, Otago Peninsula. This is the furthest-south locality yet recorded.

Acmæa parviconoidea leucoma, Suter.

Acmæa parviconoidea, var. leucoma, Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vii, p. 322, 1907.

Shells answering to this description occur under stones in Dunedin Harbour; they agree with shells collected in Heathcote Estuary. I should consider this variety better placed under A. septiformis, Q. and G.

Acmæa dædala, Suter

Acmæa dædala, Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vii, p. 323, 1907.

The commonest form of this species is a pale-green shell, tessellated as the type. It is common at Shag Point, Otago, and near Cape Saunders, Otago Peninsula. Associated with it at these two localities is the subspecies subtilis, Suter. When alive this subspecies is very pale green, the colour fading to greenish-white when the animal is dead. With these two, at Shag Point, Otago, occurs a third variety: this is dark-brown, unicoloured, agreeing with the type in everything save coloration.

Shells dredged on dead shells in Lyttelton Harbour which may be referable to this species have a very different coloration. The sculpture is very similar, and they are transparent. They are whitish, with green thick radiating rays, about 7 to 9 in number. Others are whitish dotted with red, the border margined with red lines.

Acmæa scapha, Suter.

Acmæa scapha, Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vii, p. 324, 1907.

I have this shell from shell-sand collected at Blind Bay, Nelson.

Acmæa pseudocorticata, n. sp.

Shell small, conical, elongate-oval, sides almost parallel, closely ribbed, greenish, with brownish markings between the ribs, margin almost entire. The sculpture consists of about 17 ribs in the young shell up to 30 in the older shell, due to divarication. Apex situated at about the anterior third to subcentral; almost always eroded, so that the sculpture is only distinct on the lower half of the older shells. Margin entire or feebly denticulate; very irregular in some specimens, due to their station. The coloration of the outside is constantly greenish, the interstices between the ribs brownish. The spatula is distinctly marked, of a pinkish colour; below is a darker shade of pink; the margin is white, marked with bluish-black lines corresponding to the interstices between the ribs. This colora

tion is almost constant; in some the spatula is whitish or yellowish-white or rarely spotted with black; below is rarely spotted with black.

Measurements of a fair specimen arc: Length, 13 mm.; breadth, 9 mm; height, 6 mm.

Hab.—On rocks, almost at high-tide mark: Lyttelton Harbour (type); Taylor's Mistake Bay; Shag Point, Otago; Otago Peninsula.

Type to be presented to the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch.

This species is closely allied to A. stella, Lesson, and A. stella corticata, Hutton, with which species it would appear to have been previously confounded. It differs from the latter in shape, being elongately parallel-sided; the ribs are lower and more regular; the margin is almost entire. It is a much thinner shell, the inside coloration is fairly constant, and I have met with no specimens covered with nullipores.

I have specimens of some more Acmæas which I cannot assign to any known species, even allowing for the variability of members of this genus. These I hope to work out later on.

Helcioniscus stelliferus (Gmelin).

Helcioniscus stelliferus (Gmelin), Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vi, p. 350, 1905.

Having found live young specimens of this species, I may add that the live shell is, as would be naturally supposed, very different in coloration from the dead shell. Living on the rocks at low water, constantly exposed to heavy swells, these specimens were very depressed, and difficult to detach.

They are blackish on the outside, and bluish-black, iridescent, inside. Upon holding them up to the light they are seen to show blood-red, as the dead shells do.

Helcioniscus tramosericus (Martyn).

Helcioniscus tramosericus (Martyn), Suter, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. vi, p. 346, 1905.

In my list of molluscs collected in Otago I have included this species with a (?) after it. The specimens referred to were collected as a variety of radians showing the coloration of tramosericus. Owing to the hot weather, no animals were preserved.

Upon comparing the shells with New South Wales specimens of tramosericus it was seen that these shells could not be differentiated from conchological characters alone. As my shells may be either radians or tramosericus, it would tend to show that unless the animals are examined New Zealand records of tramosericus must still remain doubtful.

Schimope brevis (Hedley).

Schismope brevis, Hedley, Rec. Austr. Museum, vol. v, p. 90, fig. 16 in text, 1904.

This species was described from dead shells from Lyall Bay, near Wellington, New Zealand. The colour was given as white, and the figures show a turbinate strongly sculptured shell.

Live shells from Lyttelton Harbour are cream-coloured, young ones very commonly brownish. The sculpture is weaker than in typical examples, the spirals being almost as prominent as the longitudinal ribs.

Schismope brevis levigata, n. subsp.

This subspecies differs from the type in the degree of sculpture. At first sight this would appear a very different shell, but when closely examined the sculpture is seen to be the same: the longitudinal ribs have greatly deteriorated in strength, whilst the spirals have gained; the last whorl descends much more rapidly than in typical brevis, whilst the earlier whorls are smaller. This combination gives an entirely different appearance to the shell, which is further strengthened by the fact that the fasciole is very little longer than the foramen. Operculum thin, horny, multispiral. Colour cream; dead shells pure-white.

Measurement of a large specimen the same as the type of S. brevis, Hedley.

Type to be presented to the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch.

Hab.—Sandfly Bay, Otago Peninsula (type); Lyall Bay, near Wellington (dead shells).

Incisura lytteltonensis (E. A. Smith).

Scissurella lytteltonensis, Smith, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. i, p. 57, pl. vii, figs. 1–2, 1894. Incisura lytteltonensis (Smith), Hedley, Rec. Austr. Museum, vol. v, p. 91, fig. 18 in text, 1904.

These two papers cover all that is on record about this species, and as these are at variance, though both accurate, it is best to at once reconcile them. Smith noted as a peculiarity the presence of colour in the shell. Hedley wrote, “None of a considerable series of Incisura lytteltonensis, Smith, before me present any trace of colour. The character” (rosea vel albida) “attributed to that species in the original description was, perhaps, derived from examples of S. rosea.”

Smith was correct in noting the coloration of the shell, as he was studying live shells: these show distinctly rosecoloured. Dead shells, which, I believe, were all Hedley had,

are just as constantly colourless. Scissurella rosea, Hedley, which Hedley surmised Smith might have confused with I. lytteltonensis, Smith, does not occur in Lyttelton Harbour, where the latter is common, and whence it was described. Hedley further writes, “From the shell-characters of Incisura I deduce it to be, if not sessile, yet of sluggish habits.”

This species lives on a species of Cystophora, and is certainly neither sessile nor sluggish. Three specimens I had under observation moved about very rapidly, being as active as any mollusc I have noted.

Photinula decepta, n. sp.

Shell small, globosely conoidal, imperforate, thin, fragile, whorls 5, spire very short, last whorl very large, rapidly descending, apparently smooth. Sculpture: Very finely spirally striated, 30 striations being counted on the penultimate whorl, obscured on last whorl by growth-lines. Colour variable; typical; the two apical whorls white or pinkish-white; on the third whorl 2 purplish bands equidistant from the sutures arise; the fourth whorl is wholly purplish-black, as is the last whorl. In some shells these bands persist on to the last 2 whorls, additional bands arising so that on the last whorl 5 distinct bands can be counted; rarely additional minute bands can be seen between these principal bands. In some cases the purple on the last whorl breaks up into irregular dashes.

The Shag Point shells are mostly light-coloured: some have almost a white ground-colour, with 5 separate distant bands; others have a pinkish ground-colour, with darker markings between the principal bands; whilst in some the bands on the last whorl are broken up into dots. Sutures distinctly marked. Columella subvertical, semicurved, expanding as a callus over the umbilicus. Aperture large, round, outer lipthin, edged with a thin band of white, inside iridescent.

Altitude, 13 mm.; diameter, 12 mm. Altitude, 11 mm.; diameter, 11 mm.

Type to be presented to the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch.

Hab.—Sandfly Bay, Otago Peninsula (type); near Cape Saunders, Otago Peninsula (syntype); Shag Point, Otago (syntype).

Cyclostrema corulum (Hutton).

Scalaria corulum, Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xvii, p. 322, 1884 (1885); Pliocene Mollusca of N.Z., in Macleay Mem.

Vol., p. 67, pl. viii, fig. 72, 1893. Scala corulum, Hutton, Suter, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxix, p. 267, 1906 (1907).

I have found this species not uncommon in shell-sand from Lyall Bay, near Wellington; Titahi Bay shell-sand also showed it; whilst I have one specimen from seaweed-washings from Taylor's Mistake Bay, near Sumner. It is a very fragile shell, and the majority of the specimens noted are imperfect. Having carefully compared specimens, there is no doubt it is congeneric with Cyclostrema angeli, Ten.-Woods, and for the present the best location is in the genus Cyclostrema.

Rissoa emarginata, Hutton.

Rissoa emarginata, Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xvii, p. 320, 1884 (1885); Pliocene Mollusca of N.Z., in Macleay Mem. Vol., 1893, p. 65, pl. viii, fig. 68.

This peculiar little shell is an addition to the list of Pliocene fossils found recently. I have found it in shell-sand from Purau, Lyttelton Harbour; in shell-sand from Lyall Bay, near Wellington; and Queen Charlotte Sound, 30 fathoms. From the description and figure, the shell recently described as Rissoina parvilirata, Suter (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxix, p. 257, pl. ix, fig. 5, 1906 [1907]) would appear to be its nearest ally, if not identical.

Cominella costata (Quoy and Gaimard).

Buccinum costatum, Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. “Astrolabe,” Zool., vol. ii, p. 417, pl. xxx, figs. 17–20 (1833).

This species has only recently been re-recorded from New Zealand; locality unknown: Suter, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxviii, p. 330, 1905 (1906). Collecting at Shag Point, Otago, I found a dead specimen of this shell.

Siphonalia valedicta (Watson).

Fusus valedictus, Watson, Rep. Scient. Results “Challenger,” Zool., vol. xv, p. 201, pl. xvii, fig. 7, 1886. Siphonalia mandarina, Duclos, var. valedicta, Watson, Index Faunæ N.Z., p. 72, 1904.

The type specimen was dredged in 275 fathoms, 200 miles west of Cape Farewell, New Zealand. I do not know whether it has been since found. If it has not, the finding of a dead shell on the south coast of Otago Peninsula must be of interest. My specimen has the apical whorls missing, and the outer lip is broken. Having collected numbers of S. mandarina, Duclos, in all stages of growth, it appears to me that this shell is worthy of full specific rank, as Watson gave it.

Cæcum digitulum, Hedley.

Cæcum digitulum, Hedley, Rec. Austr. Museum, vol. v, p. 94, fig. 21 in text, 1904.

It may be of interest to record the station of this species, especially as all the records I can trace of this genus refer either to dredged specimens or dead shells from shell-sand.

In Lyttelton Harbour, under stones at high-water mark, this species is common. Associated with it is Leuconopsis obsoleta, Hutton. There lives also a small bivalve which I have not yet satisfactorily identified. The apparent reason of these shells having been previously overlooked is their minute size. These shells rarely occur in shell-sand, perhaps on account of their station being almost beyond the limit of the force of the tides. If this conclusion be correct, may not Cæcum amputatum. Hedley, and Cæcum lilianum, Hedley, perhaps live on a similar station?

Specimens of Cæcum digitulum, Hedley, occur almost half as long again as typical examples, and these specimens are much more curved. Upon microscopic examination the length appears to be due to a new growth of shell, owing to a fracture. The majority of shells, also, do not taper as rapidly as Hedley's description would imply, nor as his figure shows.

Trophon pusillus, Suter.

Trophon pusillus, Suter, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxix, p. 253, 1906 (1907).

In shell-sand in Lyttelton Harbour there occurs not uncommonly a small Trophon. I could not reconcile it with Trophon curta, Murdoch, the only New Zealand Trophon of similar size. It was therefore with pleasure that I read the description of the shell as above. The majority of dead shells have the apical whorls missing and the sculpture worn, so that the axial striation is almost unrecognisable. However, I had also found live shells under stones, and these answered perfectly to Suter's figure and details. As the outer lip of his specimens is stated to have been broken, I may add that in the adult shell there are half a dozen well-developed teeth inside the outer lip.

Limacina australis (Eydoux and Souleyet).

Spiralis australis, Eydoux and Souleyet, “Description sommaire de quelques Pteropodes nouveaux ou imparfaitement connus,” “Revue Zoologique,” t. iii, p. 237, 1840. Limacina australis (Eydoux and Souleyet), Pelseneer, Rep. Results “Challenger,” Zool., vol. xxiii, p. 25, pl. i, fig. 6, 1888.

From shell-sand from Lyall Bay, near Wellington, I sorted out a minute mollusc, which Mr. Hedley has identified for me

as above, with the remark, “This is a most important discovery.”

This record adds a genus as well as a species to the New Zealand molluscan fauna.

Pyrene paxillus (Murdoch).

Columbella paxillus, Murdoch, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxvii, p. 224, 1904 (1905).

This shell is not uncommon alive under dirty stones in Lyttelton Harbour. I had differentiated it from the dark form of Pyrene choava, Reeve, by means of its operculum before I read Murdoch's description. It is furnished with a large operculum, and as Pyrene transitans, Murdoch, and Pyrene huttoni, Suter, are closely allied conchologically, they most probably also possess such an appendage.

Under dirty stones in Lyttelton Harbour there occurs another Pyrene. This I had intended to describe, but I have just received Hedley's “Mollusca of Masthead Reef, Capricorn Group, Queensland” (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. xxxii, p. 510). In it he describes a shell as Pyrene lurida, Hedley. My shell agrees very well with the description and figure, but without comparison of specimens it would be unwise to attach the New Zealand shell to that species.

Recently I have found specimens of Pyrene choava, Reeve, paired, and in each instance a dark shell was mated with a light one. It may be that the change of coloration in this species is a sexual characteristic.

Since writing the preceding I have found numbers of Pyrene huttoni, Suter, at Shag Point, Otago, and on the Otago Peninsula, and note that this species is possessed of an operculum similar to that of P. paxillus, Murdoch.

Leuconopsis obsoleta (Hutton).

Leuconia obsoleta, Hutton, Journ. de Conch., vol. xxvi, p. 42, 1878; Man. N.Z. Moll., p. 34, 1880. Leuconopsis obsoleta, Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xvi, p. 213, 1883 (1884); Hedley, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. xxv, pl. xlviii, fig. 16, 1900.

This shell would appear to be rare; from north of Auckland and Auckland are the only published records of its occurrence. The finding of a species of Leuconopsis under stones at highwater mark in Lyttelton Harbour was therefore interesting, but had been anticipated by the occurrence of odd shells in seaweed-washings. These shells did not fully agree with the diagnoses and drawings of L. obsoleta, Hutton, nor with one Auckland shell of that species I examined. As Webster (Trans.

N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxvii, p. 280, 1904 [1905]) had recorded L. inermis, Hedley, from Takapuna, I sent one of my shells to Mr. Hedley for his determination. His answer was, “Not inermis, but perhaps a variant of obsoleta.”

In order to settle the specific identity, I collected a good number of shells from different parts of Lyttelton Harbour. A critical examination of this series results as follows: The shell is very variable in size and shape, some shells being almost globular, with the spire-whorls very compressed; others are elongated and narrow, with the spire-whorls lengthened. The spiral striation may be very distinct, indistinct, or almost indistinguishable on account of the abrasions to which this shell is very subject. The apex of the shell may appear either on the left or on the right, or almost central. The teeth on the inner lip may both be very prominent, or the anterior one may be almost suppressed.

My conclusion is that only one species of Leuconopsis should be recognised, and that that should be L. obsoleta, Hutton. I feel certain the examination of a larger series from Takapuna will induce Webster to withdraw his record of L. inermis, Hedley. The improbability of a Sydney species of a genus such as the one in question occurring in New Zealand certainly demands a reinvestigation of this record. In view of my experience of the extreme variability of L. obsoleta, Hutton, it is very possible that the two species described by Gatliff (Vict. Naturalist, vol. xxii, pp. 12–13, 1905) would be united were a longer series studied. I have found the position of the apex, which Gatliff lays stress upon, very inconstant in the New Zealand shell.

Collecting at Shag Point, Otago, I made a special search for L. obsoleta, Hutton, and was rewarded by finding it as abundantly as in Lyttelton Harbour, and as variable. That the species is commonly distributed throughout New Zealand the additional localities whence I have dead shells from shellsand would show—Blind Bay, Nelson; Titahi Bay, near Wellington; and Lyall Bay, near Wellington. From practical knowledge I can assert that this species could be very easily collected alive at any of these localities.

Modiolarca pusilla (Gould).

Modiolarca pusilla (Gould), E. A. Smith, Proc. Mal. Soc., vol. iii, p. 24, 1898.

In the paper quoted, this species was first recorded as a New Zealand shell. As, however, the specimens referred to Macquarie Island, the Island, the furthermost limit of the New Zealand region, the occurrence of this shell on the New Zealand mainland is notable.