57 



ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF SHELLS FROM NEW ZEALAND AND 

 AUSTRALIA, AND REMARKS UPON SOME ATLANTIC FORMS 

 OCCURRING IN DEEP WATER OFF SYDNEY. 



By Edgar A. Smith, F.Z.S., etc. 

 Read January I2(h, 1894. 

 PLATE VII. Figs. 1-7. 

 The shells from New Zealand about to be described, together with 

 several si:)ecimens of Helicidce, were sent as a donation to the Katural 

 History Museum last year by Mr. H. Suter, of Christchurch, New 

 Zealand, and a member of this Society. He also sent four examples of 

 a shell which bears a very remarkable external resemblance to certain 

 smooth forms of our Purpura lapillus. It was described by Hombron and 

 Jacquinot^ under the name of Purpura patens, and does not appear to 

 have been noticed since their time. Tryon,^ not knowing the species, 

 except from description, wrongly considered it to be probably the same 

 as P. Bumasi, Velain,^ a species occurring at the Island of St. Paul, in 

 the Indian Ocean. This erroneous opinion is quite excusable, owing 

 to the great resemblance in certain specimens of the two species. 

 They are, however, not only specifically distinct, but belong to 

 different genera. The Purpura patens has a Muricoid operculum, and, 

 until tlie animal is known, may be placed provisionally in the genus 

 TrophoH. On the other hand, the operculum of P. Dumasi is normally 

 Purpuroid, and consequently there is no doubt respecting the position 

 of that species. This was not referred to by M. Velain in his 

 description, but as several specimens in the Museum Collection still 

 retain this appendage, I can speak with certainty as to its Purpuroid 

 character. 



ScissTJRELLA Lytteltonensis, n.sp. PI. YII. Pigs. 1, 2. 



Testa minuta, subauriformis, rosea vel albida, increment! lineis 

 striata ; anfractus duo convexi, sutura profunda sejuncti ; primus 

 minimus, vix proiuinens, ultimus maximus, fissura labrali brevi supra 

 medium instructus ; apertura maxima, ovata, marginibus callo tenui 

 junctis, coluraellari dilatato, reflexo, externo simplice, acuto. Diam. 

 maj. r3 ; alt. 1 mm. Hah. — Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand (H. 

 Suter). 



Only one other species of Scusurella has been recorded from New 

 Zealand, namely, 8. Ilanielli of S. P. Woodward.* This, like nearly 



1 Voy. Pole sud, Zool. vol. v. p. 85, pi. xxii. figs. 1-2. 



2 Manual Conch, vol. ii. p. 177. 



3 Arch. Zool. exper. et generale, 1877, vol. vi. p. 102, pi. ii. figs. 12-15. 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 202, pi. xlvi. fig. 8 ; Tryon's Manual Conch, vol xii. 

 p. 54, pi. Ivii. fig. 12 (copy of Woodward). 



