Iredale. — Marine Mollusca of Banks Peninsula. 387 



Last Christmas (1906), collecting on the south side of Cape 

 Saunders, Otago Peninsula, I obtained numerous specimens of a 

 Modiolarca on a species of Cystophora, in a rock-pool. These 

 have been named for me as above by Mr. Suter. 



This is the first record of any species of this genus from 

 the mainland of New Zealand. 



Modiolarca minutissima, n. sp. 



Shell very small for the genus, thin, fragile, subtriangular, al- 

 most equilateral, equivalve. ventricose. Colour uniform brownish- 

 red. Sculpture : None save growth-lines. Anterior margin 

 rounded; posterior obtusely angled; ventral margin curved. 

 Lunule slightly excavate. Umbones central, very prominent. 

 There appear to be two small teeth in each valve. 



Length, 2 mm. ; height, 2 mm. ; depth of conjoined valves, 

 1-5 mm. 



Hab. — Near Cape Saunders, Otago Peninsula., 



Type to be presented to the Canterbury Museum, Christ- 

 church. 



This first occurred as odd specimens among stones between 

 tide-marks. It was later on found in thousands on seaweed- 

 stalks, almost at low tide. It is very easily separated from the 

 other species of this genus by its small size and shape. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXI. 



Fig. 1. Six-valved Plaxiphora ovata, Hutton. 



Fig. 2. Five-valved Chiton pellis-serpentis, Q. and G. 



Art. XXXVII. — A Preliminary List of the Marine Mollusca 

 of Banks Peninsula, Neio Zealand. 



By Tom Iredale. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 6th November, 1907.] 



At present the " Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca" by 

 Captain Hutton, published in 1880, is the only complete cata- 

 logue of the New Zealand Mollusca in existence. In the intro- 

 duction to the Manual Captain Hutton wrote, " Much still 

 remains to be done towards working out the geographical distri- 

 bution of the species ; and lists would be particularly valuable 

 from Napier, Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson, Hokitika, and 

 Banks Peninsula." Up to the present no one has taken that 

 advice to heart as regards the locality under notice. As the 



