REPORT ON THE GASTEROPODA. 101 



strong again above, the upper whorls presenting one in particular, which connects the row 

 of infra-sutural beads. On the base below the carina are four narrow and sharp spirals, 

 followed by about eight, which are broader and flattened, and within these is one stronger 

 than the rest, with about sixteen rounded beads, which crenulate the edge of the umbilicus. 

 The furrows between these basal spirals are cut into little oblong pits by the longitudinals. 

 Colour a dead creamy white, with the underlying nacre gleaming through. Spire high 

 and conical. Apex flattened, with the minute, smooth, 1^ embryonic whorl somewhat 

 tumidly projecting. Whorls 8-g-, of slow and regular increase. In the earlier whorls there 

 is a slight tumidity below the suture, a slight contraction in the middle, and a slight swell- 

 ing round the base of each whorl. This last feature is feebly persistent in the later whorls, 

 but otherwise these are flat in profile. There is a sharp carinated angle, and the base is 

 almost flat, with an angular tubercled umbilical edge. Suture linear, almost invisible. 

 Mouth perpendicular, somewhat rectangular, and broader than high. Outer lip sharp and 

 thin, not patulous, not descending, with a rather deep but broad and open sinus at the 

 suture, forming a slightly acute angle at the periphery, where it advances very markedly, 

 retreating immediately to form a sinus on the base, where it is barely arched. Pillar-lip, 

 which is somewhat thickened, advances very little at its junction with the body, then 

 retreats slightly so as to form a small sinus, bending at the same time a very little over the 

 umbilicus. It has a sort of double point with a slight nick between them. It is very 

 slightly reverted, and the umbilical groove behind it is very small. Umbilicus small, 

 funnel-shaped, oblique-edged, crenate on the margin, and strongly scored within, and with 

 an oblique spiral formed by the old points of the false pillar-end. Height - 25 in. Breadth 

 0-24, least 0"22. Penultimate whorl, 0*08. Mouth, height 0"09, breadth 01. 



The variety Oxytoma, Wats., from Pernambuco, is characterised by the remarkable distinctness 

 of its sculpture, whence its name. This species is a broader and much more ornamented form than 

 Basilissa simplex or Basilissa munda. 



5. Basilissa superba, Watson (PI. VII. fig. 10). 



Basilissa superba, Watson, Prelim. Report., pt. 3, Journ. Linn. Soc. Lond., voL xiv. p. 598. 



Station 184. August 29, 1874. Lat. 12° 8' S., long. 145° 10' E. E. of Cape York, 

 Australia. 1400 fathoms. Globigerina ooze. 



Shell. — High, concavely conical, flat-based, sharply angulated, thin, finely reticulated, 

 cream-coloured. Nacre very faint. Sculpture : Spirals — there are about twenty delicate 

 threads, very nearly but not quite regular in thickness or distance, on the upper part of 

 the last whorl ; they slowly decrease in number on the previous whorls. The two (or three) 

 which form the carina are thrown out a little on a projecting whitish fillet, which encircles 



