133 



The third section does not concern us, and need not be further 

 refer)-ed to. 



Now, it will be at once seen that the characters of the peristome 

 as displayed in var. solidus will tend to place this shell in the first 

 rather- than the second section, which is strengthened by the fact 

 that living examples collected by myself and Colleagues do show a 

 tendency to a twisting of the columella. 



Equally remarkable is the affinity of /'*. bivaricosus var. solidus 

 with the heavy and tine fossil species F. senilis, Gassies,* and 

 F. subsenilis, Gassies,f from New Caledonia. These are appar- 

 ently a ponderous edition of the local shell F. caledotiicus, enor- 

 mously thickened in a similar manner to our var. solidus, only 

 more so. The outwardly reflected peristome is very thick and 

 laminated, the outer lip bearing a similar emargination to var. 

 solidus. The tubercle on the callosity is equally proportionately 

 larger, but there is again the difference, in tlie form of the anterior 

 outline of the mouth, which is rounded and almost effuse rather 

 than angular, and there is no anterior channel. 



My colleague, Mr. J. Brazier, to whom I am indebted for the 

 loan of specimens of F. senilis, has also communicated two fossil 

 Flacostyli from Mare Island, Loyalty Group, collected by himself. 

 These show precisely the same thickening of the shell, and in 

 particular of the peristome. To me they appear to have a closer 

 relation to F. caledonicus, than to either F. senilis, or the local 

 species known at the Loyalty Group, F. edwarsiatius,X although 

 they have the posterior poi'tion of the peristome inflated as in the 

 last named, I'ather than contracted to some extent as in F. cale- 

 donicus. Mr. Brazier met with this shell in the sand beds 

 accompanying the coral-rock of the island at the time this was 

 being quarried by Missionary Jones for use in the building of his 

 Church. 



In the "Geological and Physical Structure of Lord Howe 

 Island, ">^ I drew attention to facts tending on the one hand 

 to prove a former union of that island with New Zealand, and on 

 the other an extension northwards, and perhaps also in a nortli- 

 easterly direction, of this same old land, chiefly deduced from 

 soundings. Our knowledge of the conformation and physical 

 features of land formerly existing in the South Pacific is but in 

 its infancy, and it will be particularly interesting to ascertain in 

 the future, if other portions of the fauna of either New Caledonia 

 or the Loyalty Islands, confirm the indication of this land extension 

 and continuity in their direction also. It must not be forgotten 



* Faune Conchyl. Terr, et Fluvio-lac. Nouv.-Caledonie, 1871, Pt. ii., p. 

 63, t. 4, f. 2. 



t Ibid, 1880, Pt. iii., p. 39, t. 2, f. 1. 



X Gassies, loc. cit., 1871, Pt. ii., p. 63, t. 4, f. 2. 



§ Mem. Austr. Mus., No. 2, 1889, p. 122. 



