247 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW MARINE SHELL. 



By C. Hedley and C. T. Musson. 



(Plate xix., figs. 1-3.) 



EULIMELLA MONILIFORME, n.Sp. 



Shell minute, thin, transparent, acicular, conical, with a small 

 half turned over discoidal sinistral tip, whorls rounded, suture 

 margined, deeply impressed ; sculpture fine longitudinal striae 

 crossed by faint microscopic spiral scratches ; colour glossy white ; 

 spire long, tapering slowly ; whorls, besides those of the embryo, 

 7, rounded, increasing slowly, last constituting two-thirds of total 

 length ; mouth long, pear-shaped, rounded below and acute above ; 

 inner lip thick, defined, straight, reflected anteriorly over a minute 

 rimation ; outer lip sharp. 



Length 3, breadth 1 mm. 



The nearest ally of our new species appears to be E. laxa, Boog- 

 Watson (Challenger Reports, Zoology, Vol. xv., p. 497, pi. 33, fig. 

 6), which it resembles in its rounded whorls and pear-shaped 

 mouth, characters in which it differs from others of the genus. 

 Some specimens have more swollen whorls than others ; possibly 

 this is a sexual feature. We collected this shell in the brackish 

 water of Manly Lagoon, near Sydney ; entangled in masses of 

 flannel-weed (Sjyiroyyra) these tiny molluscs were seen in abun- 

 dance. This lagoon is separated from the ocean by a narrow 

 sandbank thrown across the mouth of a small stream ; during 

 floods and storms this barrier is broken down and free communica- 

 tion then exists between the pond and the sea. 



Type specimens have been deposited in the Australian Museum. 



