18 
Sometimes it is over three inches in length. The animal equals the 
Cominella in voracity. The Maori name is Kakare, or Kaeo, both 
of which names are also given to the Astralium sulcatum (Plate 
Was, lig 18), 
SCAPHELLA PACIFICA (Plate II.).—Fig. 12 (late Voluta 
pacifica) is a yellow or chestnut-coloured shell, with dark markings, 
and is sometimes nine inches in length. It is found in large 
numbers washed up on the beaches in both Islands after gales, and 
varies so much in colour, markings, and shape that a good pair 
is seldom procurable. Sometimes even the nodules, or lumps, shown 
in the plate, are wanting, and sometimes the markings are want- 
ing. It was until lately known as the Voluta pacifica, being one 
of the well-known Volute family. It lives in the sand on exposed 
beaches. The Maori name is Pupurore, which name is also used 
for the Ancilla australis (Plate II., Fig. 7). 
SCAPHELLA GRACILIS (Plate II.).—Fig. 13 (late Voluta 
gracilis), besides being smaller and narrower than the Scaphella 
pacifica, is distinguished by the markings, which in the latter ap- 
pear to form bands, while in the former they do not. With such 
a variable shell, however, it is difficult to distinguish the one from 
the other. 
MITRA MELANIANA (Plate II.).—Fig. 14 is a dark choco- 
late-coloured mitre-shaped shell. Being smooth and of the same 
colour, both internally and externally, it cannot be mistaken. 
About a score of dead ones, varying from one and a-half to two 
inches in length, have been found by my friends and myself on 
the ocean beaches near the entrance to Tauranga Harbour, and 
at Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty. This is a particularly interesting 
discovery, as the Mitre shells (so called from their shape resembling 
that of a bishop’s mitre) hitherto found out of the tropics were 
minute. We have one other Mitre shell, which is pink or brownish, 
and under one-third of an inch long. 
Plate III. represents two of our largest and most handsome 
shells) DOLIUM VARIEGATUM, the upper figure (from Latin 
dolium—a jar with a wide mouth) is a yellowish brown shell, with 
dark brown spots, and exceeds six inches in length. Being fragile, 
and having a very wide mouth, perfect specimens are rare, although 
numbers of broken shells are from time to time washed up on the 
ocean beaches in the Province of Auckland. It lives in sand, 
