Z I Z Y P T 1 I N U S . 



Plate I. 



Genus ZIZYPHINUS, Leach. 



Testa subacute conica, raru unibUicata, varie colorata, sce- 

 pissime grano-liraia, interdiim laevis, aperlurd oblique 

 subqnadratd, labro simplici, coliDiiellu plus minus cul- 

 losd, argented, ran dentatd. Operculum conieum, 

 tenue, circulariter spirale. 



Shell rathei' sliaiisl^y conical, rarely umbilicated, variously 

 coloured, mostly grain-ridged, sometimes smooth, 

 apertui'e obliquely subquadrate, lip simple, columella 

 more or less callous, silvery, seldom toothed. Oper- 

 culum hoj'uy, thin, circularly spiral. 



The genus Zizyphinus was proposed by Dr. Leach for 

 the reception of the British species of Troc/ius, six or seven 

 in numlier, partaking of the general typical character of 

 the well-known Linnsean 'I'rochiis si:yphinus. At New 

 Zealand and Western Australia this particular generic 

 type is still more characteristically developed ; there is, 

 indeed, good ground for believing that the above-named 

 species is possessed by the very remote seas of Europe 

 and Australia in common. The shells are rather shaqily 

 conical, mostly sculptured with rows of grains or grained 

 ridges, and the jircvailing colour of the species is that of 

 the Zizyphum, or Jujube-fruit, a dull flesh-tinged yellow, 

 or yellowish-brown. The columellar axis of the shell is 

 callous and silvery, arched, but rarely ending in a tooth, 

 and stOl more rarely umbilicated. The operculum is 

 horny, thin, and regularly circularly spiral. 



Of about fifty species of Zizyphinus inhabiting the 

 eastern hemisphere, at least half are natives of the seas 

 of West Australia and New Zealand, eight are European, 

 one North African, and two Japanese. Eight inhabit 

 the Philippine Islands, Tranquebar, and Malacca, and 

 one the shores of Bombay. Only seven species are re- 

 ferred to this genus from the New World, five from Cali- 

 fornia, Honduras, and Panama, one from Puget Sound, 

 and one from Lord Hood's Island in the Pacific. 



Species 1. (Mus. Cuming.) 



Zizyphinus selectus. Zizyph. testa subdepresso-cmwi- 

 ded, tumidd, versus apiceni atteiiuatd, uiij'ractibus de- 

 clivi-rotundatis, spiraliter (jrano-liratis, carneo-albd 

 autjlavescente,grunis irregulariter ustulato-rufo tinctis, 

 colore obscurissime biseriatim maculato. 



The choice Zizyphinus. Shell rather depressly co- 

 noid, swollen, attenuated towards the apex, whorls 

 slopingly rounded, spirally grain-ridged, fiesh-white 

 or yellowish, grains irregularly stained with burnt 

 red, the colour being vei-y obscurely disposed in tuo 

 rows of blotches. 

 Trochus selectus, Chemnitz, Conch. Cab. vol. xi. p. 168. 



pi. 19G. f. 1896, 1897. 

 Hab. New Zealand. 



Distinguished from Z. granatus by its depressly swollen 

 proportions and the promiscuous burnt-red colouring of 

 the grains, which stand out more conspicuously on a paler 

 ground. Next the suture, and at the periphery of tiie 

 whorls, the colour is very obscurely disposed in blotches. 



Species i. (Mus. Cuming.) 



Zizyphinus granatus. Zizyph. testa regulariter conoided, 

 unfractibus declici-convexis, dense girino-lirtitis, ruj'et- 

 cente-albd vel earned, infra suturas subobsc/tre rnj'o 

 strigato-niaculutd, granis alternatim, eel in interstitiis, 

 rufs. 



The grained Zizyphinus. Shell regidarly conoid, 

 whorls slopingly convex, densely grain-ridged, red- 

 dish white or flesh-tinged, rather obscm-ely streak- 

 spotted beneath the sutures, grains red alternately or 

 in the interstices. 



Trochus granatus, Chemnitz, Conch. Cab. vol. v. p. 100. 

 pi. 170. f. 1654., 1655. 



Hub. Tasmania. 



Although this shell is much smaller than that repre- 

 sented by ( 'hemnitz, there is every reason to believe that 

 it is an average example of the species. It is of a more 

 regularly conical form than the preceding species, dif- 

 ferently coloured, ilartyn's Trochus tigris, which Deshayes 

 refers to this species, is quite another shell, for whicli see 

 Sp. 4. 



Species 3. (Mus. Cuming.) 



Zizyphinus articulatus. Zizyph. testa depresso-cimoided , 

 rersus apicem attenuatd, anfractibus depresso-concexis, 

 ad peripheriani subangulutis, spiraliter gruno-liratis. 



June, 1863. 



