107 



or four whorls taken together remind one of Vespertilio, except 

 that the protoconch is not lirate or tuberculate at the commeuce- 

 nient. The larval characters indicate the influence of both of those 

 branches of the Volutidjs, and it appears to lie in an intermediate 

 position between them. 



In general form, except that the whorls of the spire are more 

 elevated, V. macdonaldi is somewhat like the living V. rossinimia, 

 Bernardi, of New Caledonia, a close ally of V. imperialis, Lamarck, 

 of the seas in the neighbourhood of the Philippine Islands. The 

 protoconch in the fossil species, however, is much larger, 



BiineHsio7is. — Length 36 mm. ; breadth 21 mm. ; length of 

 aperture 21mm. Professor Tate describes a specimen 115 mm. 

 in length. 



Fvrm. and Loc. — Eocene : Muddy Creek, Victoria. 



G. 9345. An example of the neanic stage of growth. 



Purchased. 



Subgenus VOLUTOCONUS, Crosse. 

 [Journ. de Conchyl. 3<= scr. t. xi. 1871, p. 306] 



Shell oblong, subcylindrical ; spire short and obtuse ; protoconch 

 broad, depressed, planorboid ; whorls ornamented by minute, 

 closely-set spiral lineations crossed by rather conspicuous growth- 

 lines ; outer margin of the aperture simple, slightly reflected 

 towards the midtUe ; columella with four plications, not well 

 developed, anterior portion swollen and corrugated by former 

 positions of the deep, wide anterior channel. 



Type. — Valuta coniformis, Cox. 



Voluta (Volutoconus) conoidea, Tate. 



1888. Voluta {Volutoconus) conoidea, Tate, Trans. Roy. Soc. South Aust. 



vol. X. p. 176, pi. xiii. fig. 9. 



1889. Voluta [Volutoconus) conoidea, Tate, id. vol. xi. p. 125. 



Protoconch (Plate IV, Figs. 13a- J) broad, depressed, composed 

 of three turns, the earliest being exceedingly small in comparison 

 with the others, the whole being bordered at the periphery next 

 the caualiculated sutui-e by an elevated ridge ; last turn irregularly 



