GASTEROPODA. / 



Class Gasteropoda. 



Head distinct, with eyes and tentacles ; body usually protected by 

 a conical more or less spiral shell, often furnished with an opereulum. 



ORDER PECTINIBRANCHIATA. 



Grills comb-like, formed of one, or sometimes two, longitudinal series 

 of laminse on the left side of the mantle over the back of the neck. 

 Animal unisexual. Shell spiral ; opereulum usually distinct. 



Suit-order Proboscidifera. 



Head small ; proboscis long, retractile ; tentacles close together at 

 the base, or united by a membrane over the base of the proboscis ; 

 eyes sessile, on the external base of the tentacles. Carnivorous. 



FAMILY MURICID^:. 



Tentacles moderate ; mantle enclosed ; shell spiral, turreted ; 

 anterior canal produced ; pillar smooth ; aperture entire behind ; oper- 

 eulum horny, annular ; nucleus apical or sub-apical. 



Sub-family Muricinae. 



Shell thick, with three or more varices, with more or less prominent 

 spines. Opereulum ovate ; nucleus apical. 



B1UHEX. 



Shell ovate ; spire rather short, with three or more rounded or 

 spinose varices on each whorl ; aperture ovate, often small ; canal 

 elongate, straight or bent, tubular, generally spinose ; opereulum 

 horny. 



World-wide. 



1. M. ZealandiCUS, Quo//, Voy. Astrolabe, ii., p. 531 ; Gray, 

 Dleff. N.Z., ii., p. 229. Shell globose, rather thin ; whorls augu- 

 lated ; varices on the spire whorls with a single spine, those on the 

 body whorl with five or six half-closed hollow spines, the posterior one 

 being considerably the longest. These spines are bent slightly back- 

 wards, and more strongly to the left. Spire produced, acute ; aper- 

 ture ovate ; canal produced, half-closed, bent backwards ; spinose with 

 the remains of the old beaks. Yellowish or pinkish white ; interior 

 white. Length, 2 inches; breadth, TO inch; angle of spire, 53. 



JS'orth Island, as far South as Wellington. 



2. M. lyratUS, Lamark, I.e., ix., p. 598 ; not of Gml. Fusiform, 

 rather thin, spire produced, body whorl rather inflated ; spire whorl 

 with two, and body whorl with about six distant spiral ridges, crossed 

 by thin varices at equal distances, dividing the shell into squares, 

 depressions smooth, varices often produced into short spines where 

 they cross the ribs ; aperture ovate, angled, outer lip wrinkled ; canal 

 produced, open, nearly straight. White ; young with a few purple 

 bands on the inside. Length, T25 ; breadth, '6 ; angle of spire, 50. 



Stewart's Island. 



3. M. OCtOgOHUS, Qitoy, I.e., ii., p. 531 ; Gray, I.e., p. 229. 

 Whorls spirally grooved ; varices eight or nine, each carrying two or 



