68 



Tranmctions. 



Art. VII. — Description of a New Species of the Family Cerithiidae. 



By Henry Suter. 

 Communicated by R. Speight. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, ISth September, 1918 ; received by 

 Editor, 25th September, 19 IS ; issued separately, 14th May, 1919.] 



Fastigiella australis n. sp. 



Shell elongate-conical, gradate, many-whorled, with slightly nodulous 

 cinguli ; aperture oval-quadrangular ; columella with a distinct fold pro- 

 duced by the entering of the carina of the fasciole. Sculpture : The post- 

 embryomic whorls have a prominent convex and faintly nodulous spiral band 



below the suture ; a similar but narrower 

 band above the lower suture, and below it a fine 

 thread margining the suture. The paratype, 

 which is smaller, shows only the upper band and 

 a distinct thread above the suture below, (^n 

 the lower whorls the thread margining the suture 

 is lost ; strong convex and distant growth- 

 lines turn up which are produced into nodules 

 on the upper and lower cinguli, but the speci- 

 mens before me, no doubt considerably worn, 

 show only traces of these characters. The 

 body-whorl is distinctly angled and bears two 

 cinguli upon the angle. The base of the 

 paratype shows traces of spiral striation. 

 Spire high, distinctly gradate, angle about 

 20°. Protoconch lost. Whorls 8 on the im- 

 perfect holotype, flat or somewhat concave 

 between the cinguli, the body-whorl angled. 

 Suture deep, canaliculate in the paratype. 

 Aperture ovate, but slightly quadrangular, not 

 channelled above ; most likely with a very 

 short and notched canal, but the whole of the 

 mouth is too much damaged in both specimens 

 to be quite certain. Outer lip straight, curved 

 and indistinctly angled towards the base. Columella a little excavated 

 above, bearing on its lower part a fold which evidently extends as a carina 

 upon the fasciole, but the latter is almost completely broken off. Inner 

 lip spreading somewhat over the base, more apparent on the paratype. 

 Height, 22 mm. ; diameter, 8 mm. (imperfect holotype). 

 Holotype and one paratype in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch. 

 Zoc— Holotype from the upper horizon, Whitewater Creek, and the 

 paratype from the upper horizon, Struthiolaria bed, Porter River, Trelissick 

 Basin ; both collected by Mr. R. Speight, Curator of the Canterbury 

 Museum. 



Remarks. — The genotype is Fastigiella carinata Reeve, a living species 

 from the Antilles, and our species differs from it chiefly in the aperture not 

 being channelled above. The umbilicus of the type I take to be simply 



Fastigiella australis Suter. 



