452 GASTROPODA. [Pectinibrnnchin. 



usually of the same light-brown colour, but the lowest third part, 

 which is distinctly marked off from the others, is white, sometimes 

 tinged with yellowish ; inner lip purplish to white ; aperture brownish- 

 purple inside. Spire short, the apex blunt or mucronate, conic, its 

 height about two-thirds that of the aperture ; outlines lightly convex, 

 straight, or concave ; the whole spire covered over by callus, which 

 is minutely granulated, and forms a more or less thick pad on the 

 ventral side, extending to the apex. Protoconch mostly hidden by 

 enamel, but sometimes but little covered, when it is forming a sharp 

 and smooth point. Whorls about 6 to 7, the body- whorl large, flatly 

 convex, narrowed towards the base. Suture completely hidden by 

 enamel. Aperture subvertical, high and moderately broad, angled 

 and canaliculate above, the groove sometimes broad and deep and 

 extending often over the lower part of the spire, broadly truncated 

 and rather deeply notched below. Outer lip lightly curved, thin and 

 sharp, very often with a minute tooth below at the end of the narrow 

 band bounding the fasciole above. Columella vertical, rounded, arcu- 

 ately twisted, and with a number of oblique folds below, ending in a 

 blunt beak. Inner lip thick, rather narrow upon the pillar, separated 

 below by a deep groove from the fasciole ; usually forming 2 prominent 

 pads on the parietal wall, and spreading upwards over the spire. Oper- 

 culum thin, horny, light yellow, oval, with the nucleus subapical, the 

 posterior end more angularly rounded than the anterior. 



Diameter, 22 mm. ; height, 44 mm. (very large specimen). Dia- 

 meter, 19 mm. ; height, 34 mm. 



Dentition (Hutton, T.N.Z.I., xv, 121, pi. 13, f. V). Central tooth 

 with 3 rather distant cusps, the middle one the smallest, no inter- 

 mediate smaller denticles ; lateral teeth triangular. 



Type in the British Museum. 



Hab. North Island, from Bream Head to Cook Strait, also on the 

 Manawatu coast ; Sumner (H. S.) ; Timaru (H. S.) ; Chalky Inlet ; 

 Chatham Islands ; Kermadec Islands (Captain Bollons). 



Remark. The specimens taken for A. rubiginosa have a very thick 

 callus on the spire. 



Fossil in the Miocene and Pliocene. 



A/on.^Enhata-Atouane and Teouara (fide Quoy and Gaimard). 



Var. pyramidalis, Reeve, 1864. Plate 49, fig. 2. 



Ancillaria pyramidalis, Rve., Conch. Icon., xv, f. 11 ; M.N.Z.M., 59 ; Chall. 

 Rep., xv, 230. 



The sculpture is exactly like that of the species, but the colouring 

 of the central part of the body-whorl is usually much darker, deep 

 lead-blue or bluish-brown. The spire is pyramidally acuminated, the 

 apex sharp, the callosity covering the surface is just thick enough to 

 form an even smooth surface, and there is only a very moderate layer 

 of callus extending from the body-whorl to the spire on the ventral 

 side of the shell. 



