122 Transactions. 



Art. XI. — Preliminary List of Mollusca fr07n Dr edgings taken off 

 the Northern Coasts of Nexv Zealand 



By Miss M. K. Mestayer, 

 Communicated by Dr. J. Allan Thomson. 



{Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 27th October, 1915.] 



Plate XII. 



Rather more than a year ago my father and I received from Captain 

 Bollons samples of some dredgings he had taken — (A), 15' S. of the Big 

 King, Three Kings Group, 98 fathoms; (B) 6' E. of the North Cape, 

 73 fathoms; (C) 6^' E., 5' N. of the North Cape. 



When we came to clean and examine the material, that from the 

 Big King i^roved to be very rich in Foraminifera and in the smaller 

 and minute Mollusca, there being none of the large forms in it. The 

 other two — -(B) and (C) — were not nearly so rich in Mollusca, but very 

 rich in Foraminifera. So far as I know at present, there is only one 

 mollusc new to New Zealand in either of them, but I have not yet had 

 time to thoroughly work out the whole of the material. 



On the other hand, the Big King dredging has yielded far more 

 material, in which are several interesting forms. Two of the genera 

 (Discohelix Dunker and Styliola Lesueur) are new to the New Zealand 

 fauna. Another one {Columharium von Martens) has only once before 

 been recorded as occurring in New Zealand, a single specimen having 

 been found by the " Terra Nova " Expedition in 1911. Then there are 

 four other species which have not previously been recorded as occurring 

 in New Zealand— ^viz., Atlanta lesueuri, Limacina inflata, Brookula 

 sp. 1 and Liotella incerta, notes on which will be found at the end of 

 the list. 



About the middle of this year Dr. J. Allan Thomson suggested that a 

 list of the species in these dredgings would be of interest. Unfortu- 

 nately, only a small number of the species are in this list, as owing to 

 lack of time the majority of the bivalves have not been examined (it 

 will be noted that only four or five are included), and there are also 

 a considerable number of species that are very difficult to name, as 

 they do not seem to be described and figured by Mr. Suter in his valuable 

 " Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca," 1914. 



Following Dr. Thomson's advice, the list itself is arranged in alpha- 

 betical order for easier reference, but the notes are in systematic order. 

 The last note refers to a new species of Typhis, of which I have found 

 two specimens — one, chosen as holotype, from a dredging off the Poor 

 Knights Islands, and the other from a dredging off the Hen and Chickens 

 Group, both dredgings taken by Captain Bollons. 



In the table which follows, the asterisk before a species shows there 

 is a note upon it. A = 15' S. of Big King, 98 fathoms ; B = 6' E. of 

 the North Cape, 73 fathoms; C = 6J' E., 5' N. of the North Cape, 

 75 fathoms. 



