32 



Conus (Lithoconus) cuspidatus, Tate. 



1890. Conus cuspidatus, Tate, Trans. Eoy. Soc. Soutti Aust. vol. siii. pt. 2, 



p. 194, pi. vii. fig. 1. 

 1893. Conus cuspidatus, Tate and Deunant, id. vol. svii. pt. 1, p. 221. 



Protoconch (Plate IT. Figs. 6a-b) conspicuously elevated, rising 

 to a sharp point, composed of four to five slowly and regularly 

 increasing turns, forming a very distinctive feature. Spire of the 

 shell proper with seven to eight volutions, slightly concave and 

 deeply lineated spirally. 



In the brephic stage the spire is much elevated in all the 

 specimens examined, and this character may he perpetuated to 

 the gerontic stage, or the whorls may become flatter and less 

 elevated during the neanic, and absolutely depressed during the 

 later stages of growth. Such a wide range in elevation of the 

 spire is not often observable in Conus ; the amount of elevation 

 is merely an individual peculiarity. This may be noted by those 

 who seize upon this unstable property as a subgeneric character 

 and often allow it to influence them in defining a species. 



Body-whorl either obtusely or acutely angulate at the periphery, 

 depending on the elevation of the spire ; lines of growth well 

 marked, spiral striae plainly developed anteriorly. Aperture 

 narrow, dilated in front, channelled behind ; columella twisted, 

 bordered by an elevated ridge in young specimens, and very pro- 

 nounced in the catabatic stage where the anterior portion is usually 

 much fractured, owing apparently to difficulties of growth. The 

 columellar twist leads to a slight constriction of the body-whorl. 



Dimensions. — Length 49 mm.; breadth 25 mm. 



Form, and Loc. — Eocene : Muddy Creek, Yictoria. 



G. 5489. Three specimens. Purchased, 



Conus (Lithoconus) pullulescens, Tenison-Woods. 



1880. Conus pullulescens, Tenison-Woods, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. vol. iv. 



p. 3, pi. i. tig. 4 {non fig. 3). 

 1890. Conus pullulescens, Tate, Trans. Eoy. Soc. South Aust. vol. xiii. pt. 2, 



p. 190, pi. xi. fig. 9. 

 1893. Conus pullulescens, Tate and Dennant, id. vol. xvii. pt. 1, p. 221. 



This species may be distinguished from C. cuspidatus, amongst 

 other things by its extremely characteristic and prominent proto- 

 conch (Plate 11. Pigs. la-h). This is very large, composed of 



