178 



Murex (Triplex) trinodosus, Tate. 



1888. Murex {Triplex) trinodosus, Tate, Trans. Eoy. Soc. South Aust. 

 vol. X. p. 96, pi. i. fig. 4. 



Headily distinguished from other Australasian species of Triplex 

 by the elementary character of its ornamentation ; it is solid, 

 varices three in number, and continued obliquely from whorl to 

 whorl, they are very narrowly foliated, and are furnished pos- 

 teriorly with a short blunt spine or tubercle ; between the varices 

 are three stout, nodulous, short costse ; aperture ovate, channelled 

 in front and having a deep notch posteriorly bordering the suture ; 

 canal short, slightly curved, and almost closed. 



Tlie deep notch on the after part of the outer margin is very 

 distinctive. Professor Tate remarks (op. cit. p. 97) that M. tri- 

 nodosus is separable from the living M. angasi, Crosse, by "being 

 broader across the posterior part of the body-whorl, by the variceal 

 spine not being hooked, by the less angulated whorls, longer 

 canal, and by having three stout intervariceal nodulations instead 

 of two inconspicuous ones." 



Dimensions. — Length 16 mm. ; breadth 7 mm. ; length of 

 aperture and canal 8 mm. 



Form, and Loc. — Miocene : Muddy Creek, Victoria. 



G. 9458. Two examples of the adult. Purchased. 



Subgenus CHICOREUS, Montfort. 

 [Conch. Syst. t. ii. 1810, pp. 610, 611.] 



The varices of the shells included in this subgenus are foliated, 

 though not to the same extent as in Triplex, and a principal 

 distinguishing feature is the elaborate character of the spinose 

 varices or foliations. It differs also from Triplex in having a 

 relatively larger aperture ; canal short, curved, and nearly closed. 



Type — Murex ramosus, Linnaeus. 



Murex (Chicoreus) lophoessus, Tate. 



1888. Murex {Chicoreus) lophoessus, Tate, Trans. Eoy. Soc. South Aust. 



vol. s. p. 98, pi. ii. fig. 5. 

 1893. Murex {Chicoreus) lophoessus, Tate and Dennant, id. vol. xvii. pt. 1, 



p. 218. 



