Cryptospira.] GASTROPODA. 67 



1. Cryptospira ficula, Murdoch and Suter, 1906. Plate 20, fig. 21. 



Cryptospira (Gibber via) ficula, M. & S.. T.N.Z.I., xxxviii, 1905 (1906), 291, 

 pi. 24, f. 27. 



Shell very small, subpyriform, smooth and polished, with but 

 very slightly raised spire. Sculpture : Some examples show minute 

 growth-periods, more distinct on approaching the lip. Colour whitish, 

 vitreous in fresh shells. Spire very little elevated, broadly rounded. 

 Protoconch of about 1^ whorls, smooth, flattened, the nucleus but 

 slightly raised. Whorls 3 to 3|, those of the spire very low and narrow, 

 the last occupying nearly the whole of the shell, rounded and lightly 

 ventricose above, narrowed toward the base ; basal limb large and 

 callous, corresponding to the growth-periods of the notch, bordered 

 by a minute ridge. Suture minute but distinct. Aperture very nar- 

 row above, channelled, slightly broader towards the base, where it 

 is deeply notched. Outer lip very little thickened, almost straight, 

 retrocurrent in a half-circle towards the suture, rounded off on the 

 base ; in adult specimens the inner margin of the lip minutely trans- 

 versely denticulate. Columella slightly excavated, with 3 small but 

 distinct plaits ; they are oblique, equidistant, and the last extends 

 to the rounded basal point of the columella ; 2 or 3 minute denticles 

 are sometimes distinctly visible on the parietal wall, situate above 

 the others. Inner lip thin and narrow on the lightly convex body, 

 broadening and thickening" on the columella. 



Diameter, 2-2 mm. ; height, 3-5 mm. (type). 



Animal unknown. 



Type in the Dominion Museum, Wellington. 



Hab. Off Great Barrier Island, in 110 fathoms (type). 



RemarJc. The nearest ally of this species is C. Strangei, Angas, 

 from Australia and Tasmania, which, however, is larger, with the 

 spire considerably more produced and the upper columella plaits more 

 distinctly exserted. 



Subgen. 2. CLOSIA, Gray, 1857. 



Closia, Gray, Guide Moll. Brit. Mus., 1857, 36. Type: MargineUa sarda, 

 Kiener. 



Shell ovoid and globular ; spire involute, hidden by the prolonga- 

 tion of the labial varix ; outer lip thick, dentate within ; columella 

 with a thick callus, with 4 plaits, the two lower ones very prominent, 

 the two superior ones not so prominent, above them there are some- 

 times a series of transverse ridges. 



In its dorsal aspect it resembles Cyprcea. 



2. Cryptospira profunda, Suter, 1909. Plate 20, fig. 22. 



Cryptospira (Closia) projunda, Suter, Rec. Canterbury Museum, i, No. 2, 

 1909, 128, pi. 12, f. 5. 



Shell small, ovoid, smooth and polished, white, with 4 columellar 

 plaits. The only sculpture consists of very faint rounded growth- 

 periods. Colour white. Spire involute, flat, covered by enamel. 



