REPOKT ON THE GASTEROPODA. 263 



5£, of rapid increase, droopingly shouldered above, then convex, perpendicular below, with 

 a slight tendency to contraction above the suture ; the last especially is ventricose and 

 oval, with very regular curves. Suture very oblique, deeply impressed, and a little canali- 

 culate. Mouth oval, straight, rounded above, and not at all sinuated ; it ends below in a 

 broad, open, shallow, scarcely emarginated canal. Outer lip very regularly curved, with 

 a narrow straight edge, which is prominent and patulous, but not in the least reverted ; 

 it does not rise at all on the body-whorl. Inner lip spreads on the body very widely, but 

 somewhat thinly, as a straw-coloured glaze ; above it is very oblique, but scarcely convex ; 

 it forms an angle at its junction with the pillar, which is perpendicular and scarcely 

 twisted ; the rounded edge is formed by a narrowish thickened white callus, which about 

 half-way down is suddenly contracted and slightly turned round so as to form a kind of 

 tooth or projecting corner, below which the whole edge is smaller. H. 6'6 in. B. 3'15. 

 Penultimate whorl, height 1*3. Mouth, height 4*1, breadth 2. 



Bowdich's figure (Conchology, pt. 1, p. 68, pi. xviii. fig. 2) of Voluta (Cymbium) cethiopica, 

 Linne, is the best representation I know of the animal of Voluta, and might almost be taken to 

 represent the Challenger species. It is copied by Gray in Moll. Anim., vol. i. pi. xxvii. fig. 4. Of all 

 the mollusks got by the Expedition, this is certainly the most valuable. It is large ; the shell is 

 singularly beautiful in form and colour ; it comes from a great depth and an unknown sea ; and its 

 generic features are very peculiar. It is unfortunate that it is somewhat broken. In the act of its 

 capture, or in the extraction of the animal, the shell must have been slightly crushed, and the 

 fragments lost. To me it came most carefully packed in cotton- wadding ; but one or two small 

 pieces of shell were found loose in the box, and these I could replace. Under my care, however, in 

 spite of the most extreme solicitude, it met with sore disaster, probably in landing from the con- 

 tinent, when the sailors handle luggage more roughly than even at Suez in days of old. The 

 breaking was so bad that the shell looked like a wreck ; the bits, however, were got into their places 

 and fixed with cement, and some professional restorer may finish the work more delicately than I 

 could do it. In any case this unique treasure is not lost. 



4. Volutomitra, Gray, 1857. 

 Volutomitra fragillima, Watson (PI. XIV. fig. 7). 



Volutomitra fragillima, Watson, Prelim. Report, pt. 12, Journ. Linn. Soc. Lond., voL xvi. p. 334. 



Station 149d. January 20, 1874. Lat. 49° 28' S., long. 70° 13' E. Eoyal Sound, 

 Kerguelen. 28 fathoms. Volcanic mud. 



Shell. — Ovate-ventricose, thin, smooth, with a short spire, a long base, a large oblong 

 mouth, and 4 teeth on the pillar. Sculpture: Longitudinals — there are many fine hair- 

 like lines of growth. Spirals — there are very many broadish, but obsolete, rounded 



