26 NERITA. 



The condition of the specimen figured l)y PJiilippi was too poor 

 to do justice to its characters; I can only guess at its relationships. 



N, ATRATA, Keeve. PL 8, fig. 40. 



Black, spirally linearly grooved; aperture white, the outer lip 

 black margined, with rather strong internal plicate teeth, columellar 

 area smooth, the margin minutely toothed in the middle. 



Diam. 28 mill. 



Australia, New Zealand, etc. 



Reeve figured this species for the N. atrata, Chemnitz — which it 

 probably is not, and on this account von Martens preferred for it 

 the name N. jmndata. Quo}' — which it ertainly is not, whilst 

 Hutton imposed the name of X. saturata, and E. A. Smith that of 

 N. melanotragus, both in 1884, with a probable priority of publica- 

 tion of the former name. "NVatson (Voy. Challenger, xv, 132) reviews 

 the whole subject, preferring the name N. punctata. Inasmuch as 

 Chemnitz was not binomial and therefore not entitled to quotation, 

 and his figures and description are neither of them sufficient for 

 identification, whilst they indicate that at least two species were 

 confounded by him, I think it preferable to treat him as non-existent, 

 and quote Reeve ; especially as he has been followed by others, so 

 that his atrata has become well-known. N. nigra, Gray (who quotes 

 Quoy) in "Dieflenbach's New Zealand" has been cited by authors as 

 applying to the present species, but the name is not accepted by 

 them on account of the prior N. nigra, Chemn. They show that 

 Quoy never described a N. nigra, but then neither did Gray; he 

 merely mentioned the name in his above list, and it is impossible to 

 determine what species he may have intended. Finally, different 

 as this species is from N. nigerrima, Chemn., in its form and absence 

 of columellar granulations— actually a group distinction, I have never- 

 theless some suspicion that it is only a variety of it, and that it 

 connects that species with N. morio, which, on account of its smooth 

 inner surface of the lip belongs to still another group. In my 

 saner moments I am well-aware that such vagaries of conjecture 

 are simply the demoralizing result of the questionable questioning 

 which has largely supplanted the questionless faith of the last 

 generation of conchologists. 



N. ATRAMENTosA, Reevc. PL 8, figs. 44. 



Shell slightly spirally striated, black or dark olivaceous variega- 

 ted with black ; aperture white, outer lip strongly toothed within at 



