330 Transactions. 



Following Captain Hutton's latest publication on the genus, 

 the more ponderous shells with a cinereous columella, as they 

 occur from Cook Strait down to Banks Peninsula, were taken as 

 C. maculosa, Mart., but the difference from the Auckland shells, 

 taken for C. testudinea, is so slight that they cannot be kept 

 apart as two species. Moreover, the dentition is the same in the 

 two, as will be seen on examining the figures given by Captain 

 Hutton in Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xv, pi. xviii, figs. M, N. In 

 fig. M the lateral teeth are turned over, the outer denticles 

 laying over the rhachidian tooth. 



Cominella costata, Quoy and Gaimard (1833). 

 Buccinum costatum, Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. Astrol., Zool., 



vol. ii, p. 417, 1833, pi. xxx, figs. 17-20. B. eburneum, Reeve, 



Conch. Icon., pi. xii, fig. 93, 1846. B. angasi, Crosse, Journ. 



de Conch., 1864, p. 275, pi. xi, fig. 5. 



Two years ago Mr. E. A. Smith, I.S.O., of the British Mu- 

 seum, sent me a specimen which he told me came from New 

 Zealand. I found it to perfectly agree with Quoy and Gaimard's 

 diagnoses and figures, as well as with specimens in my collection 

 from Tasmania, and it has to be added to the list of New Zealand 

 shells. 



Cominella zealandica, Reeve (1846). 

 Buccinum zealandicum, Reeve, Conch. Icon., sp. 28, 1846. 



Cominella zealandica, Tryon, Man. Conch. (1), vol. iii, p. 183, 



pi. lxxix, fig. 384. 



This species is considered as a synonym of C. maculata, Mart., 

 by Captain Hutton in his Revision des Coq. de la N.-Zelande, 

 1878, and in Man. N.Z. Moll., but omitted, as not really inhabiting 

 New Zealand, in the " Revision of the Rhachiglossate Mollusca," 

 1884. 



Tryon says, " This species never came from the locality 

 assigned to it ; it is a true Buccinum,, and may be a form of 

 undatum, having accidentally deepened colour upon the superior 

 revolving lines ; or, if the colour is normal, then it is probably 

 a var. of B. cyanum, Brug." 



My attention was first drawn to this species by a Pliocene 

 shell from Waikopiro, which agrees perfectly (the colouring, of 

 course, excepted) with Reeve's diagnosis and figure. I also have 

 a recent specimen from New Zealand, yellowish, the revolving 

 lines between the ribs brown-tinted, in my collection. 



This species and C. costata are nearly allied to the Australian 

 C. lineolata, Lamarck, and may have been the cause for including 

 the latter species in our fauna. However, I have never found or 

 seen a New Zealand specimen of C. lineolata, and we may safely 

 omit it from the list of New Zealand molluscs. 



