402 GASTROPODA. [Pectinibranchia. 



2. Murex zelandicus, Quoy and Gaimard, 1833. Plate 48, fig. 2. 



Murex zelandicus, Q. & G., Voy. Astrol., ii, 1833, 529, pi. 36, f. 5-7 ; Gray, 

 in Dieff. N.Z., 229 ; Conch" Icon., iii, pi. 34. f. 177 ; Hutton, M.N.Z.M., 

 46; T.N.Z.I., xvi, 218; Tryon, Man. Conch. (1), ii, 108, pi. 29, 

 f. 268 ; Watson, Chall. Rep., xv, 157- 



Shell pyriform. rather thin, narrowly perforated, with long spines, 

 yellowish-white. Sculpture : There are usually 6 varices, with long 

 tubular spines, 1 on the spire-whorls and 5 to 7 on the body-whorl ; 

 they are open in front and more or less curved upwards ; on the last 

 whorl the spines upon the angle are longest, next in length is the 

 fifth, then the third and seventh, and the second, fourth, and sixth are 

 the shortest. If only 5 spines are present, the spines decrease in the 

 following order : fourth, fifth, third, and second. Spiral sculpture is 

 present only on the body-whorl, the shoulder being smooth, but upon 

 and below the angle fine spiral threads encircle the whorl from one 

 spine to the next. Outsidethe umbilical fissure is a prominent fascicle 

 formed by former canals, one laying above the other. Colour vary- 

 ing from yellowish-white to light brown. Spire conical, gradate, the 

 angle of the spire-whorls median, height about the same as that of the 

 aperture without the canal. Protoconch very small, of H smooth 

 convex whorls, the nucleus a little deviated. Who-rls angulated, 6, 

 the last large and ventricose ; base flattish, contracted above the 

 canal. 'Suture well marked, not deep. Aperture pyriform, rounded 

 above, produced below into a moderately long and open canal, some- 

 what recurved and bent to the right. Outer lip angled above, orna- 

 mented with the hollow spines of the last varix, grooved. Columella 

 vertical, but very slightly concave. Inner lip fairly thick, spreading 

 a short distance beyond the pillar and above over the lightly ex- 

 cavated parietal wall ; at the base it is much narrowed, and con- 

 tinuing forms the sharp left margin of the canal. The umbilical 

 chink is narrow, but quite distinct. Operculum horny, unguiculate, 

 yellowish-brown, the nucleus subapical. 



Diameter, 20-3 mm. ; height, 54 mm. (type). 



Animal having the foot large, cylindrical, and bell-shaped ; ten- 

 tacles short, thick, obtuse, with the eyes near their points. Colour 

 yellowish-white, the tentacles reticulated with white. 



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



Hob. North and South Islands, in depths ranging from a few to 

 600 fathoms ; the type is from a depth of a few fathoms in Cook 

 Strait ; Opotiki ; Kawau Island (H. S.) ; off Great Barrier Island, in 

 110 fathoms ; near Channel Island, Hauraki Gulf, in 25 fathoms ; 

 Queen Charlotte Sound, in 10 fathoms (Chall. Exp.) ; forty-five miles 

 north of the Kermadec Islands, in 600 fathoms (Chall. Exp.) ; Stewart 

 Island (Captain Bollons). 



Also inside the reef off Nukualofa, Tongatabu, in 18 fathoms (Chall. 

 Exp.). 



Fossil in the Miocene and Pliocene. 



