84 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXV. 



cannot be revived by any means ; and to allow plants to become 

 extinct before all their economic possibilities have been thoroughly 

 tested is a wanton wasting of the hidden treasures which Nature 

 scatters lavishly around us. 



DESCRIPTION OF VOLUTA {AMORIA) SPENCERIANA, 

 SP. NOV., FROM NORTH QUEENSLAND. 



By J. H. Gatliff. 



(With plate.) 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, lOth Aug., 1908.) 



VoLUTA (Amoria) spenceriana, sp. nov. 



Shell white, fusiform, smooth, polished, apex blunt, spire short, 

 whorls six and a half, including the nucleus ; suture well defined 

 on the later whorls, and becoming strongly channeled at the 

 aperture ; outer lip anteriorly expanded, edge acute, body whorl 

 somewhat inflated at the upper portion ; columella bears three 

 ascending plaits. Marked sparsely with light yellowish-brown, a 

 few irregular linear markings running down from the suture, and 

 two series of broad equidistant bands of distant zig-zag lines on 

 the body whorl ; spotted below the suture, spots ceasing on the 

 penultimate whorl, the remaining spiral whorls being without 

 markings ; salmon tinted in the interior. 



Size of type. — Length 55, breadth 21 mm. 



Habitat. — North Queensland (J. F. Bailey). 



Observations. — May be readily distinguished from its congeners 

 by its expanded lip, only having three plaits, its short spire, and 

 the outline and marking of the shell are different. 



It is nearly related to V. canaliculata, M'Coy, but Mr. E. A. 

 Smith, of the British Museum, who has examined it, does not 

 consider it to be that species, which has a markedly canaliculate 

 suture, and four plaits on the columella, and he could not identify 

 it with any species hitherto described. 



I have named it in honour of Professor W. Baldwin Spencer, 

 C.M.G., M.A., F.R.S., &c., &c., formerly president of this Club, 

 whose skilled researches in the domain of natural science are so 

 widely known and appreciated. 



Type in my collection. 



Two specimens, without specific name, habitat given as Austral- 

 asia, have been exhibited in our National Museum since 1880, 

 when they were purchased from Mr. Thatcher. They are rather 

 larger and more solid than the type, in fresher condition, and 

 consequently the markings are stronger. 



