PELEC'YPOUA. ( .H5 



straight, slowly descending ; posterior end broader, obliquely trun- 

 cated, the dorsal margin straight and very little inclined ; ventral 

 margin straight or lightly curved, rounded at both ends. Lunule 

 ovato-lanceolate, superficial, not distinct. Escutcheon not well de- 

 fined, slightly impressed. Sculpture consisting of fine concentric 

 striae, much fewer and lamellate at the posterior end, front and 

 middle finely radiately striated. Colour white, sometimes yellowish- 

 brown. Interior white, smooth, shining. Margins smooth, sharp. 

 Hinge with 3 cardinals in each valve, of nearly equal strength, 

 oblique and slightly divergent, the median tooth in each valve 

 grooved. Ligament long and thin. Adductor-scars subequal, the 

 anterior more pyriform. Pallial sinus extending to the middle, 

 free, narrowing slowly, rounded in front. 



Length, 21 mm. ; height, 13 mm. ; diameter, 8-6 rnm. 



Type in the British Museum. 



Hob.- New Zealand (Cuming) : Cook Strait ; Stewart Island. 

 Also Australia and Tasmania. 



2. Paphia intermedia, Quoy and Gaimard, 1835. Plate 61, figs. 6, a. 



Venus intermedia, Q. & G., Voy. Astrol., iii, 1835, 52(5, pi. 84, f. 9, 10 ; Hanley 

 Cat. Rec. Biv. Shells, 127, pi. 16, f. 41 ; Thes. Conch., ii, 692, pi. 146 

 f. 39 ; Yate N.Z., 308 ; Dieff. N.Z., 250. Tapes intermedia, Q. & G. 

 Conch. Icon., xiv, f. 59 ; Romer, Monogr. Gen. Venus, 82, pi. 29, f. 2 

 C.M.M., 72 ; Crit! List, 45 ; M.N.Z.M., 151 ; P.L.S. N.S.W., ix, 524 

 Chall. Rep., xiii, 116 ; Index, 89. Venus Largillierti, Phil., Zeitsch. f. 

 Malak., 1847, 87 ; Abbild., iii, 60, pi. 9, f. 3. 



Shell moderately large, ovate, transverse, solid, very inequilateral, 

 subtruncated posteriorly, concentrically and radially striated. Beaks 

 at about the anterior fifth of length, approximate, incurved and 

 turned forwards. Anterior end short, convex, the dorsal margin 

 rapidly descending ; posterior end subtruncated, high, the dorsal 

 margin horizontal, curved towards the posterior end ; basal margin 

 broadly rounded. Lunule not distinctly circumscribed, flat, ovato- 

 lanceolate. Escutcheon long and narrow, slightly excavated. 

 Sculpture consisting of fine concentric striae, coarser and lamellar at 

 the ventral and posterior parts of the valves, where several riblets 

 of the median part are united to one broader lamella ; "the concentric 

 riblets are decussated by fine radiate striae, less prominent on the 

 posterior end. Colour brownish or yellowish - white, young shells 

 mostly with radial zigzag lines of brown. Interior white, more or 

 less marked with violet at the posterior end, porcellanous, dull. 

 Margins smooth. Hinge-plate narrow ; right valve with 3 diverging 

 cardinals, the two posterior teeth grooved, the anterior tooth small, 

 sometimes obsolete in adult shells ; left valve with the 3 cardinals 

 more distant, the median tooth stout and deeply grooved, the others 

 much smaller, laminar, not grooved. Ligament moderately long, 

 strong. Adductor-scars subequal, the posterior more oval. Pallial 



32 



