454 GASTROPODA. [Peclinibrancliia. 



3. Ancilla depressa, Sowerby, 1859. Plate 49, fig. 3. 



Ancillaria depressa, Sow., Thes. Conch., iii, 1859, 63, pi. 211, f. 3. Ancilla 

 depressa, Sow. : Suter, T.N.Z.I., xxxix, 266. Ancillaria lata, Hutton, 

 T.N.Z.I., xvii, 1884 (1885), 325 ; P.L.S. N.S.W. (2), i, 1887, 210 ; Plioc. 

 M., 44, pi. 6, f. 15 ; Suter, T.N.Z.I., xxxviii, 332. 



Shell of very variable size, broadly oval, flattened on the ventral 

 side, solid, shining, with short spire, with a thick and broad callous 

 pad outside the parietal wall. Sculpture : The callus of the spire and 

 body minutely granulated, the last whorl microscopically finely trans- 

 versely striated, a shallow narrow groove above the fasciole, the latter 

 slightly raised, depressed in the centre, the lower thiid overlaid by a 

 well-defined narrow band ; growth-lines fine, sometimes raised into 

 unequal and low plications. Colour : The apex white or reddish ; 

 the spire white, banded with brown below the suture, this brown 

 band getting broad on approaching the aperture, it is distinctly 

 margined below by a white band of very variable width ; middle of 

 the body-whorl bluish-brown, vertically striated with bluish-white ; 

 the upper third of the fasciole white or dark brown like the central 

 part, the lower part whitish ; columella white, parietal wall brown or 

 white ; aperture fuscous within ; outer lip with a white margin. 

 Spire typically short, but in the larger forms it is more elongated, 

 its height about half that of the aperture, but it is very often much 

 more ; outlines concave. Protoconch small, sharply conical, mostly 

 free of enamel. Whorls about 6, the body-whorl strongly convex 

 below the suture, but flattened on the ventral side, flatly rounded and 

 somewhat narrowed toward the base. Suture concealed by enamel. 

 Aperture slightly oblique, lightly channelled above, very little nar- 

 rowed below, broadly truncated and deeply notched at the base. 

 Outer lip obliquely curved above, then lightly convex or nearly straight, 

 sharply rounded towards the emargination, thin and sharp, with a 

 minute denticle below. Columella straight or very lightly concave, 

 vertical, thick and rounded, strongly twisted and with 3 to 4 nattish 

 oblique plaits below. Inner lip narrow on the columella, separated 

 by a narrow oblique groove from the fasciole, extending over the 

 concave parietal wall as a thick callous layer, produced into a thick 

 pad outside the angle of the aperture, and forming a thinner callous 

 layer outside and upon the spire, often very nearly reaching the proto- 

 conch. Operculum thin and horny, yellowish, oval, broadly rounded 

 in front, lightly acuminate behind, with fine concentric and a few 

 radiate lines, nucleus nearly apical. 



Diameter, 8-5 mm. ; height. 15 mm. (figure of type). Diameter, 

 12 mm. ; height, 22 mm. (Whangaroa specimen). Diameter, 9-5 mm. ; 

 height. 17 mm. (Auckland specimen). Diameter, 12 mm. ; height, 

 22 mm. (type of A. lata). 



Ani)iii(l unknown. 



Type in the British Museum. The type of A. lata. Hutt.. is in vhe 

 Canterbury Museum, Christchurch. 



