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the same colour as the shell. The shells are very light and fragile. 
A singular provision for its eggs is found attached to the female 
Janthina, in the shape of a float, or raft, to the under surface of 
which the eggs in little bags or capsules are attached, and there 
they remain until hatched. 
JANTHINA EXIGUA (Plate VII.).—Fig. 1 is the smallest 
of the Janthina found in New Zealand, being rarely half an inch 
in width. The whorls are more rounded than in the other two 
varieties, and the spire is usually the same violet colour as the 
mouth, and the grooves on the shell are deep and prominent. 
JANTHINA FRAGILIS (Plate VII.).—Fig. 2 is sometimes 
over an inch in width, the spire being much lighter in colour than 
the rest of the shell, frequently indeed being white. The grooves 
on the shell are fine, but clearly visible. 
There is another variety occasionally found in New Zealand, 
the Janthina globosa, like the Janthina exigua in shape, but 
larger, and the grooving being very faint the shell has a glisten- 
ing appearance. This variety is rare. 
CANTHARIDUS IRIS (Plate VII.).—Fig. 3, from Iris, a 
rainbow, well describes the colour of this pretty little shell, seldom 
more than one and a-half inches in length. Pink, purple, yellow, 
and red seem to be the prevailing colours; and they are arranged 
in irregular waving lines on its smooth and polished surface. The 
interior is highly iridescent. It lives amongst seaweed and rocks 
below low water mark. The Maori name is Mata-ngo-ngore, which 
is also used for the Calliostoma shells on Plate VI. 
CANTHARIDUS TENEBROSUS, var. Huttoni (Plate 
VII.).—Fig. 7 is a little bluish-black shell, about a-third of an 
inch long, with fine strie or grooves running down the whorls. 
Alive, it is found in great numbers at low water on marine grass 
banks in harbours, and seems to be very active, as the anchors 
and cables of boats, moored for a few hours over one of their 
favourite haunts, will be liberally sprinkled with them. 
CANTHARIDUS PURPURATUS (Plate VII.).—Fig. 8 is 
a heavier and rougher shell than the Iris, and of a rose-pink 
colour. Sometimes the whole shell is of this colour, but frequently 
only the top of the spire. It also lives amongst seaweed and 
rocks; but when living on grassy banks in harbours seems to lose 
its pink colour and become a pale grey. 
