Monilea.] GASTROPODA. 141 



2. Monilea egena, Gould, 1849. Plate 38, fig. 25. 



Solarium egenum, Gould, Proc. Bost. Soc. N.H., iii, 84 : U.S. Expl. Ex., 

 196, f. 226. Monilea egena, Gould. Man. Conch. (1), xi, 253, pi. 37, 

 f. 13 ; Suter, P. Mai. S., ii, 279. Monilea zealandica, Hutt,, C.M.M., 40. 

 Margarita zelandica, Hutt. : Sow., Conch. Icon., f. 17. Torinia egena, 

 Gould : Marshall, in Man. Conch. (1), ix. 22, pi. 6, f. 22, 2?. 



Shell small, low ovate-conic, thin, amply umbilicated. Sculpture 

 consisting of 4 sharply compressed well-elevated spiral ribs on the 

 last, 3 on the penultimate whorl, the two uppermost of which are 

 beaded ; interspaces concave, smooth except for fine growth-lines ; 

 base with fine broad lirse, 2 elevated cinguli encircling the umbilicus, 

 the inner of them crenulate. Colour ashy-white, slightly iridescent, 

 with light-brown radiating streaks, forming zigzag lines on the last 

 whorl ; base white, with a brown band outside the 2 umbilical cinguli. 

 Epidermis very thin, slightly shining. Spire globosely conical, apex 

 blunt, about the same height as the aperture. Apex small, depressed 

 convex, reddish-brown, of 2 smooth whorls. Whorls 6, convex, the 

 last obtusely angled at the periphery ; base convex. Suture incon- 

 spicuous. Aperture subcircular, oblique, iridescent and lirate within. 

 Outer Up sharp, edged by a thin iridescent callosity. Columella slightly 

 oblique, broadly expanded above, terminating in a small point at the 

 base ; edge crenulate below. Umbilicus wide, one-third of the diameter 

 of the base, tunnel-shaped, penetrating to the apex, with a few spiral 

 sulci, crossed by longitudinal grooves ; the spiral volutions of the 

 funicle distinctly visible. 



Diameter, 7-5 mm. ; height, 5-5 mm. (type). 



Dentition unknown. 



Type in the U.S. Nat. Museum, Washington. 



Hob. Bay of Islands ; Hauraki Gulf, in sandy places below 

 low-water mark (T. F. Cheeseman) ; Lyall Bay ; Stewart Island, 

 in 18 fathoms (Captain Bollons) ; Chatham Islands. Nowhere com- 

 mon. 



Fossil in the Pliocene. 



Subgen. 1. MINOLTA. A. Adams, 1860. 



Minolia, A. Ad., A.M.N.H., iv, 1860, 336. Type : Minolia punctata, A. Ad. 

 Minolta, A. Ad., Man. Conch. (1), xi, 13, 259. Solariella, H. and A. 

 Adams, G.R.M., i, 431 ; Watson, Chall. Rep., xv, 72, not of S. Wood. 

 Minosia, Dunker, Ind. Moll. Mar. Jap., 142. 



Shell widely umbilicated, delicate, thin, smooth ; whorls rounded ; 

 spire depressed ; aperture circular ; the outer lip and columella thin, 

 simple, acute ; umbilicus without an inner funicle or rib. 



The species belong to the Indian Ocean and western and south- 

 western Pacific. 



