386 GASTROPODA. [Pectinibranchia. 



brown and broken up into spots by incremental furrows ; aperture 

 within light to orange yellow, the outer lip sometimes with brown 

 liree. S-pire exceedingly variable in its development : it may be low 

 and conoidal, the height not more than half the height of the aperture, 

 and the outlines concave ; or it may be more elevated, broadly conic, 

 its height about three-fourths that of the aperture, and the outlines 

 straight or even a little convex. Protoconch of 1J smooth convex 

 whorls ; the nucleus small, pointed, a little raised. Whorls about 7 to 

 8, first slowly increasing, the last high and ventricose, moderately 

 convex ; base flatly convex, contracted above the fascicle. Suture 

 impressed, uneven. Aperture subvertical, oblique, strongly chan- 

 nelled above, below with a short widely open and slightly oblique 

 canal, its base deeply notched. Outer lip lightly convex, sinuated 

 above the middle, thickened inside, edge fairly sharp, sometimes 

 slightly denticulate, but mostly quite smooth. Columella vertical, 

 slightly concave, stout and broadly rounded, twisted below and 

 angularly truncated. Inner lip broad and thickly callous, polished, 

 spreading over the parietal wall, which bears a stout broadly rounded 

 callus below the suture ; at the base the lip is narrowed to a strong 

 lamella, which forms the inner margin of the canal. Fasciole very 

 prominent, high and broad, carinated, leaving very often a deep 

 umbilical depression. Operculum horny, dark brown, concentrically 

 lamellate, nucleus apical. 



Diameter, 29 mm. ; height, 46 mm. Diameter, 31 mm. ; height, 

 41 mm. Diameter, 35 mm. ; height, 59 mm. 



Dentition. Troschel, Das Gebiss d. Schnecken, ii, 83, pi. 8, f. 3 ; 

 Hutton, T.N.Z.I., xv, 120, pi. 13, f. L. 



Type lost. 



Hab. Hauraki Gulf, common between tide-marks and to about 

 5 fathoms ; Wellington Harbour ; Pelorus Sound. Also Chatham 

 and Auckland Islands (teste Hutton). Brought to England by Cap- 

 tain Cook. 



Fossil in the Miocene and Pliocene. 



Maori. Kawari (fide Captain Bollons). 



Subsp. melo, Lesson, 1840. 



Buccinum melo, Less., Revue Zool., 1840, 355. Less. : Gray, Dieff. N.Z., 

 232. Cominella melo, Less. : Hutton, M.N.Z.M., 54. 



Distinguished from the species in being heavier and more turgid, 

 the spiral sculpture is faint or absent, only flexuous rugose growth- 

 periods irregularly costulate the shell. The colour is uniformly choco- 

 late-brown, the inside of the aperture vividly orange. Spire conoidal, 

 concave, barely half the height of the aperture. There is always a 

 distinct umbilical chink present- 

 Diameter, 34 mm. ; height, 50 mm. 

 Type in the Mus. Hist, Nat., Paris. 

 Hab. Whangaroa Harbour (Captain Bollons). 



