236 RECORDS OF THK AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



MlTRII'HAKA PROLES sp. IIOV. 



(Plate xliii., fig. 24.) 



Shell small, ratlier thin, ovate-fusiform. Coloar buff, clouded with 

 pale brown on the periphery. Whorls six, including two of the proto- 

 couch. Sculpture: — The whole shell is over-run with spiral flat-topped 

 cords, which become gradually smaller and closer on approaching the 

 anterior end ; twenty-live of these occur on the last whorl, of which eight 

 ascend the penultimate; the radials are curved delicate riblets, tapering 

 upwards, and vanishing before reaching the summit of the whorl ; these 

 riblets disappear on the last whorl ; the penultimate cari-ies about twenty- 

 five. Aperture wide; sinus a slight sigmoid flexure, the outer lip thin, 

 curved forward ; deep within are fifteen short spiral lyrae ; two small 

 plications on the columella; canal short atid broad. Length 6 mm., 

 breadth 27 mm. 



This form was at firsf'^s mistaken for M. albn It is, however, much 

 nearer to the fossil M. daphieUoides, of which it ma}' be a variety, 

 differing by a more pointed protoconch, less prominent plications on the 

 columella, and finer, closer riblets. 



Hah. N.S.Wales: — 80 fathoms, 22 miles east of Narrabeen (type) ; 

 100 fathoms, Port Macquarie (self) ; 50 fathoms. Cape Three Points 

 (" Thetis "). Victoria : — 80 fathoms, Gabo. Island (" Endeavour"). 



Inqdi.sitok HeiUeij. 



Inquisitor Hedley, Journ. Roy. Soc. N.S.W., li., 1918, p. M. 79. Type, 

 Pleurotoma sterrJia Watson ; DrilUa mirtonmi in jnirt (not Drillia 

 Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist., i., 1838, p. 28). 



The group here discussed has hitherto been called " Drillia," but 

 examination shows that name to be inapplicable. By original usage, the 

 type being nnihilicata, Drillia was applied to an African group already 

 named Clavat/tla by Lamarck.-*^ Having later realised that this African 

 group was already pi'ovided with a name,^^ Gi'ay deflected "Drillia" for 

 service in another direction. In this resurrected existence Drillia has 

 been improperly emplo^-ed for an Indo-Pacific group. 



Compared with Clavatnla the shell of linjnisitor is less massive, but 

 more long and slender, with aspire taller in proportion. Radial sculpture 

 is usually dominant in Iitqaisitor, where the grooved fasciole runs rather 

 closer to the suture, and where the aperture in aged specimens is some- 

 times a little contracted by inflection of the outer lip. There is rai'ely a 

 false umbilicus. The operculum ot" Iiiqult<itor is lanceolate with the 

 nucleus apical, instead of medio-lateral, as in t'lavafula. 



■^« Hedley— Kec. Austr. Mus., vi., 1907, p. 298. 



•^« Maltzan— Jahrb. dent, malak. Gesell.. x., 1888. p. 121. pi. iii., fiff- ^- l">all— 

 Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., liv., 1918, p. 324.. 



3» Gray— Ann. Mag. N. Hist. (2). vii., 1851. i>. ;337, and Svet. Anang. Moll. 

 Brit. Mus., 1866, p. 8. 



