Terliari/.} PALiEONTOLOGY OF VICTORIA. lAfollusca. 



Plate VL, Fic 1. 



VOLUTA HANNAFORDI (McCoy.) 



[Oeuus VOLUTA (Lam.). (Sub-kingd. Mollusca. Class Gasteropoda. Order Pectini- 

 lirauchiata. Fam. Volutidae.) 



Ge7i. Char. — Shell ovate or fusiform ; ape.x of spire obtuse, mammillatcd, and obliiiuc ; 

 apertui-e large, with a wide notch in front, not produced into a canal ; columella or inner lip 

 with several large oblique prominent plaits, of which the anterior ones are largest.] 



Description. — Broad fusiform ; pullus at apex of spire, very larg-e smooth 

 splieroidal, of little more than l^ turns; spire conical, apical ang'le 70°, of 4 whorls 

 (besides the pullus), each obtusely angulated in the middle, and having on the ang'le 

 from 14 to 17 large nodose tubercles, obtuse and conoidal on the body whorl, on 

 which the smaller number is found, more elong-ate on those of the spire, on tlie upper 

 of which the greater number occur; the oblicpie space between the tubercles and the 

 suture marked with narrow slightly undulating thread-like spiral ridges, irregularly 

 alternating in thickness ; below the tubercles the body whorl is smooth or marked 

 with obtuse lines of growth until the anterior extremity, which is marked by thick 

 obtuse spiral strite crossing the lines of growth ; but the young whorls, or vertical 

 portion of the smaller turns of the spire, are marked with spiral striaj slightly larger 

 and less distinct than those of the posterior portion ; and, finally, in very large, old 

 specimens, the spiral strife on the space above the tubercles are reduced to a few near 

 the suture. Outer lip in adults greatly dilated into an oblong wing, with a broadly 

 rounded, auriculate posterior margin rising nearly u]) to the suture of the penultimate 

 whorl for attachment ; outer margin nearly straight, thin and slightly inflected, 

 ending at the narrowed anterior end in a moderately deep sigmoid respiratory notch, 

 which does not form a crest ; inner lip excessively thin, spreading as a slight glaze 

 over a part of the body whorl ; columella slightly sigmoid and flattened towards 

 the anterior end, with 3 large, equal, very prominent, compressed, widely separated 

 oblique plaits, behind which, in some examples, are 1 or 2 closer and smaller ones, 

 usually absent; aperture moderately large, oblong. Length of small perfect, 

 specimen, 6 inches ; proportional length of body whorl, -^g"^ ; of penultimate whorl, 

 jJy^^; antepenultmiate, 3§iy ; preceding whorl, -^^ij ; length of pullus, -j-fo ; diameter 

 of pullus, ■j-'5% ; diameter of succeeding whorl at suture, -j^^; length of wing, j^jfj ; 

 greatest width of body whorl and wing, t-%% ; of penultimate whorl, -jYo 5 ordinary 

 length of pullus, 6 lines ; diameter, 7 lines. 



So disproportionably large and smooth does the pullus or young 

 nucleus on the top of the spire appear, that it looks like a compara- 

 tively large Natica or Helix artificially stuck on the comparatively 

 slender, rugosely nodulated and striated spire ; its disproportion 

 far exceeding the greatest living instance of such an incongruity, 

 the recent Valuta mammilla. The 6rst very large specimen seen 

 was presented to the National Museum by Mr. Hannaford, of 

 Warrnambool, an enthusiastic naturalist, after whom I have great 



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