DESCRIPTIONS OF TWELVE NEW SPECIES AND ONE 



VARIETY OF MARINE GASTROPODA FROM THE 



PERSIAN GULF, GULF OF OMAN, AND ARABIAN SEA, 



COLLECTED BY MR. F. W. TOWNSEND, 1902-1904. 



llY JAMES COSMO MELVILI,, M.A., F.L.S. 

 (Plate \iii.) 



I venture to ofier another short instahnent of descri[nions t;f Gastropoda 

 from the Persian Gulf and contiguous seas, all dredged by Mr. F. W. 

 Townsend, during the past three years (1902 — 1904). 



His last consignments come principally from Dabai, in the Persian Gulf 

 proper, a locality that proved extremely rich, especially in Pelecypoda, though 

 most of the MoUusca obtained had already been catalogued as found else- 

 where ''n the neighbourhood. 



But the majority of the following, it will i'e noted, come from the one 

 almost inexhaustible station already descanted upon in previous papers. ''' 

 This material (exce[)ting as far as the Scaph(jpoda and Pelecypoda are con- 

 cerned) is now thoroughly worked out, and it is hoped that a list may be 

 eventually drawn up of all the many fcjrms found in it, as the results are 

 believed to have been rarely, if ever, eclipsed by any previous single haul of 

 the dredge. 



Aelis thesauraria, -' n. -^p. 

 PI. viii, fig. I. 

 A testa minutissima, obtecte umbilicala, ovato-fusiformi, delicata, alba, 

 anfractibus 9, quorum 3I apicaks, caudati, omnino laeves, pervitrei, nitentes, 

 caeteris apud suturas impressis, spiraliter acuticarinatis, ultimo et penultimo 

 quatuor, antepenultimo, tribus carinis praeditis, interstitis laevibus, super- 

 ficie baud nitente, a[)ertura rotunda, peristomate paullum expanso, incrassato, 

 super umbilicum et apud basim columellarem squarrose effuso. 



Long. 2.50, lat. I millim 



7/rt7v— Gulf of Oman, lat. 24° 58' N., long 56" 54' E., 156 fathoms. 



Ytry small, but wonderful in its perfection of form and sculpture. The 

 apical whorls are almost caudate, three to four of almost uniform narrow 

 build, quite smooth and glossy, the remainder being uniformly acutely 

 keeled I'he thickened- peristome with a squarish extension of the colum- 

 ellar base halt hides the narrow umbilicus. 



In sculpture it shows kinship with A. at"-ari.<. 



1. Ann. & M.ig. N. H., 1903, ser. vii, vol. 12, p. 289; Proc. Mai. SiC , vi, p. 51 ; ibid., p. 159. 



2. Tkesauratius, treasured. 



