Catalogue of the Marine Shells of Victoria. 185 



Remarks on the Varieties. 



Yar. piperita. This form shows great diversity, sometimes the 

 shape is pyriform, but it is sometimes relatively narrow and 

 elongate, the l)ands vary in number from 3 to 4, they may be 

 continuous across the back, or discontinuous in the form of broad 

 lines or squarish blotches, or the blotches may assume a crescent 

 shape, occasionally V shaped, recalling C. undata, Lamarck. In 

 two specimens before us the dorsal marking consists of broad 

 undulating longitudinal lines of irregular width. 



Var. comptoni. This has occasionally only one broad band 

 across the dorsum, the usual number is 3 to 4, but sometimes 

 only 2, and they are continuous across the shell. 



Var. bicolor. Examples we include with this form are 

 occasionally longer and narrower than the type, with darker 

 colouration ; in rare specimens, which we would also class here, 

 the darker wave lines run lengthwise instead of across the 

 dorsum. This variety and %ariety piperita are ditficult to 

 separate from one another. 



Var. declivis. The dorsal spots are sometimes on a purely 

 white or a faint brown ground, and sometimes confluent, and in 

 some specimens the dorsal blotchings at the extremities are 

 entirely absent. 



Var. albata. This is the rarest and also the most distinct 

 variety, owing to the entire absence of the dark spots on the 

 margins ; besides the typical white shell, we have others before 

 us narrower in form, and of a pinkish flesh colour, that have no 

 spots or bands. 



In worn specimens of var. piperita, the small dorsal spots are 

 often absent, and the shell then resembles either var. comptoni 

 or var. bicolor. 



An examination of young shells ranging from 7 mm. to 22 mm. 

 in length, in which the outer lip is acute, shows that as might be 

 expected, var. albata, has no markings, all the others, with the 

 exception probably of var. declivis, appear to start with five 

 dotted lines, one of them immediately encircling the spire ; this 

 one soon becomes hidden, and the lower one generally as the 

 shell grows is discontinued ; two of the other bands often unite 

 forming a broad central band, the change being distinctly 



