Murex.] GASTROPODA. 401 



Diameter, 16mm.; height, 37mm. (type). Diameter, 29mm.; 

 height, 55 mm. (large specimen, Hauraki Gulf). 



Animal with thick, short, and flattened tentacles, with the eyes 

 near their extremities ; foot oval, its sides, head, and tentacles yellowish 

 with red strise ; the locomotive disc whitish. 



Dentition. Hutton, T.N.Z.I., xv, 118. pi. 13, f. C. 



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



flab. North Island, from the Bay of Islands (locality of the 

 type) to Cook Strait, from low-water mark to about 25 fathoms, 

 not common ; Kermadec Islands. Also South Australia. 



Remarks. Murex dipsacus, Brod. ; M. peruvianus. Sow.; M. 

 cuspidatus. Sow., which have been mentioned as being synonymous 

 with our species, are no doubt distinct. 



Fossil in the Pliocene. 



Var. umbilicatus, T. -Woods, 1876. 



Trophon umbilicatus, T.-Woods, P.R.S. Tas., 1875 (187(5), 135. Murex 

 scalar is, A. Adams, P.Z.S., 1853, 71 ; not of Brocchi. Urosalpinx 

 umbilicata, Wood, Man. Conch. (1), ii, 155. Murtx Angasi, Tryon, I.e., 

 109 ; not of Crosse. M. umbilicatus, T.-Woods : Verco, T.R.S. S.Aust., 

 1895, 9(3 ; 1896, 231, pi. 7, f. 4 : Pritchard and Uatliff, P.R.S. Vic. (n.s.), 

 x, 254. M. octogonus, var. umbilicatus, T.-Woods : Suter, J. Mai., viii. 

 61 ; Index, 71. 



Distinguished from the species by a more or less open umbilicus, 

 which causes the spines round the base to spread much further out ; 

 otherwise there is no difference. 



Type in the Tasmanian Museum, Hobart. 



Hob. Hauraki Gulf, in about 20 fathoms. Also Tasmania and 

 the southern coasts of Australia. 



Fossil in the Pliocene. 



Var. espinosus, Hutton, 1886. 



Murex espinosus, Hutt,, T.N.Z.I., xviii, 1885 (1886), 333; -Plioc. M., 38, 

 pi. 6, f. 3 ; Index, 71. 



In this variety the spines on the varices are absent ; the shell is 

 simply axially broadly costate, 8 to 9 ribs on a whorl. 



Type, from the Pliocene, in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch. 

 Hob. Hauraki Gulf ; East Cape ; Mokohinau Islands. 

 Fossil in the Pliocene. 



Sect. 2. POIRIERIA, Jousseaume, 1879. 



Poirieria, Jouss., "Revue de Zoologie," 1879. Type: Murex zelandicus, 

 Q. & fi. Paziella, Jousseaume, 1879. 



Shell fusiform-ventricose ; spire conic, gradate ; protoconch with 

 a small and deviated nucleus ; whorls angled at the middle, with 6 

 to 8 varices, and ornamented with tubular spines ; last whorl ample, 

 excavated above the moderately long open canal ; aperture pyri- 

 form ; columella vertical ; umbilical chink distinct, 



