Murdoch and Suter. — Besults of Dredging. 291 



27. Cryptospira (Gibberula) ficula, n. sp. Plate XXIV, fig. 27. 



Shell very small, subpyriform, smooth and polished, with but 

 very slightly raised spire. Sculpture : Some examples show 

 minute growth-periods, more distinct on approaching the lip. 

 Colour whitish, vitreous in fresh shells. Spire very little elevated, 

 broadly rounded. Protoconch of about one and a half whorls, 

 smooth, flattened, the nucleus but slightly raised. Whorls 3 to 

 3i, those of the spire very low and narrow, the last occupying 

 nearly the whole of the shell, rounded and lightly ventricose 

 above, narrowed toward the base ; basal limb large and callous, 

 corresponding to the growth-periods of the notch, bordered by 

 a minute ridge. Suture minute but distinct. Aperture very 

 narrow above, channelled, slightly broader towards the base, 

 where it is deeply notched. Outer lip very little thickened, 

 almost straight, retrocurrent in a half-circle towards the suture, 

 rounded off on the base ; in adult specimens the inner margin 

 of the lip minutely transversely denticulate. Inner lip thin 

 and narrow on the lightly convex body, broadening and thicken- 

 ing on the slightly excavated columella, which bears three small 

 but distinct plaits ; they are oblique, equidistant, and the last 

 extends to the rounded basal point of the columella ; two or 

 three minute denticles are sometimes distinctly visible on the 

 wall of the body, situate above the others. Altitude, 3"45 mm. ; 

 diaineter, 2 17 mm. 



Type in the Colonial Museum, Wellington. 



Obs. A number of dead shells were collected. Its nearest 

 ally is Marginella strangei, Angas, from Australia and Tasmania, 

 which also belongs to the genus Cryptospira : this species is a 

 little larger (altitude 5 mm.), with the spire considerably more pro- 

 duced and the upper columella -plaits more distinctly exserted. 



28. Fusus spiralis, A. Adams. 



Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855, p. 221, publ. 1856. 



A fine beautifully coloured and adult specimen, inhabited by 

 a hermit-crab, was found, which was presented to the Auckland 

 Museum. Besides this, fragments of dead young shells turned up. 



29. Murex (Poirieria) zelandicus, Quoy and Gaimard. 

 Voy. Astrol., Zool., vol. ii, p. 529, pi. xxxvi, figs. 5-7, 1833. 

 Two young dead shells. 



30. Megalatractus maximus, Tryon. Plate XXIV, fig. 28. 

 Man. Couch. (1), vol. iii. p. 135. pi. liv, fig. 355, 1881 ; Hedley, 



Memoirs Austral. Mus., vol. iv, part 6, p. 374, pi. xxxviii. 



Two protoconchs of what we take to be this species were ob- 

 tained. They certainly do not belong to S. dilatata, Q. and G., 



