96 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



a volute from Table Cape under the name of ]'. iiz-ata ; some of 

 the specimens I have of F. viaccoyii, T. Woods, agree well with 

 the description and dimensions given Ijy Mr. Johnston, and I 

 have therefore no liesitation whatever in regarding the shells 

 before me as jNIr. Johnston's species. In 1888 Mr. Johnston 

 published his Geology of Tasmania, and in that work figures a 

 number of Table Cape fossils, amongst which we have, on pi. xxx., 

 tig. 10, a shell evidently intended for V. liraia, but for some 

 unknown reason it is I'eferred to in the explanation of the plate 

 as V. allporti, Johnston ; the latter shell, though somewhat 

 vaguely described, is stated by the author of the species to be 

 the largest volute in the Table Cape beds, somewhat resembling 

 V. T/iacroptera, McCoy, but without the wing-like extension of 

 the lip. In xxqw of the above, it is evident that the figure 

 referred to cannot possibly represent V. allporti, whereas it 

 agrees fairly well with the description of V. Ii7-ata. 



Mr. Johnston also tigures in the same work on pi. xxx., 

 tig. 9, a shell which is called V. tignewi, Johnston, which can 

 hardly be said to agree with this description of that species 

 given in 1880. I am inclined to agree with Professor Tate that 

 this tigure may represent a form of V. viaccoyii, T. Woods. 



In 1889 Professor Tate figures and describes a shell under the 

 name of V. lirata, Johnston, which is most distinctly not that 

 species, but is undoubtedly the same species as that descriijed by 

 him as V. costellifera, the latter species being subject to a certain 

 amount of variation in the length of its spire, the breadth of the 

 body-whorl, and the strength or development of the I'ibs or lirje. 

 V. lirata, Johnston, must therefore be expunged from the lists of 

 fossils from the lower beds (eocene) of Muddy Creek, Victoria. 



In the same year Professor Tate redescribes and tigures V. 

 nuiccoyii, T. Woods, and i-ecords it as occurring in the lower beds 

 at Muddy Creek and in the blue clays at Schnapper Point. The 

 Victorian fossil as a rule shows some points of variation from the 

 typical Table Cape form in that it is generally a somewhat more 

 fragile and slender shell, and only occasional specimens show 

 faint transverse line on the posterior whorls. 



Professor Tate also describes in the same work a shell under 

 the name of V. polita, which I am unable to regard as specitically 

 distinct from /''. niaccoyii, T. Woods. Professor Tate distin- 



