170 



CONUS COROMAXBELICUS, SMITH, ITS PROBABLE AFFINITIES, 

 AND SYSTEMATIC POSITION IN THE FAMILY CONIDiE. 



By J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S. . 



Read 10th June, 1904. 



In September, 1894, the description of a most notable abyssal Cone 

 was published,' a species obtained during one of the cruises of H.M. 

 Indian Survey steamship " Investigator," with which the names of 

 Dr. A. Alcock, F.R.S., and the late Professor Wood-Mason are so 

 closely associated. Its locality was "off the coast of Coromandel, 

 lat. 14° 18' 15" N., long. 80° 18' 30" E., in 80-110 fathoms, and 

 also lat. 15° 4' 7" N., long. 80° 25' 7" E., in 128 fathoms." 



The author, in naming it Coyius CoromandeUcus, adds : — " It belongs 

 to that section of the genus which includes C. Z*' Orhignyi, cancellatus, 

 etc., and which have the surface ornamented with transverse grooves 

 and ridges. It is not sufficiently similar to any known species to 

 suggest a comparison." 



In 1903 Mr. Frederick W. Townsend was fortunate enough to 

 obtain from two contiguous soundings in the Gulf of Oman, viz., 

 lat. 25° 10' N., long. 59° 12' E., at 180 fathoms, and lat. 25° 19' N., 

 long. 58° 10' E., at 205 fathoms, a few finer examples than those 

 dredged off the coast of Coromandel ; these were associated with 

 Mostellaria delicatula, Nevill, also found in the deep waters of the 

 Bay of Bengal, and a fine new Pleurotoma, P. navarchufi, M. & S. 



One of the largest of these specimens, evidently adult and quite 

 perfect, and in live condition, measures long. 48, lat. 18, aperture 

 33 X 6 mm. This is as compared with long. 37, lat. 14, aperture 

 25 X 3^ mm. in the type. 



Recently, when collecting Tertiary fossils in the Barton Beds, 

 between Highclilfe and Hordle, South Hants, I found some good 

 examples of Conorbis dormitor (Solander), and a comparison of these 

 with Conns CoromandeUcus reveals to my mind an alliance of the 

 closest nature possible. We seem, indeed, to possess in these 

 profound depths of the Arabian Sea and North Indian Ocean the 

 direct descendant of a genus (or section of a genus) hitherto deemed 

 extinct, the living analogue, so to speak, of the Barton Eocene Conorbis 

 of prehistoric days. 



The main differences seem to consist in (a) size : C. dormitor does 

 not usually exceed 15 to 20mm. longitudinally, by 7 in latitude; 

 aperture 10 x 2 mm. {b) Greater length in proportion to length of 



' Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. vi, voL xiv, p. 159, pi. iv, figs. 1, 2. 



