169 



6. Phos (?) variciferus, spec. nov. PL xi., fig. 3. 



Sliell turriculate, with a Mgli gradated spire, ending in a 

 :small obtuse apex of one and a half convex whorls, the extreme 

 tip of which is somewhat obliquely flattened down. 



"Whorls below those of the apex six, of very slow increase, 

 sharply angled a little beyond the middle, with a straight up- 

 ward slope to the posterior suture, slightly contracted into the 

 .anterior suture. 



Spiral lirae, thick, rounded, five on the posterior slope and 

 about eight stronger ones on the front, crossed by close-set fine 

 striae. Transverse costse, slender, sharp, bent at the keel, 

 .about 20 to a whorl, raised into small, blunt knobs on the keel 

 and crenulated by the lirse, especially on the anterior, slope ; on 

 the last whorl the costae descend from the keel in a sigmoid 

 curve to the beak. 



Last whorl variced immediately behind the outer lip, and 

 besides there are variceal imbrications, usually about two to a 

 whorl. 



Aperture narrow oblong ; outer lip thin, faintly lirate 

 within ; inner lip continuous with the outer lip at all stages of 

 growth, its edge upraised, markedly so on the pillar, with an 

 umbilical chink at the origin of the canal, smooth within. 

 Canal short, open, twisted to the left and much reverted. 



Length, 22 ; breadth, 9"5 ; length of canal and aperture, 

 11-5. 



Localities. — Lower beds at Muddy Creek; blue clays at 

 Schnapper Point ; Gastropod-bed of the Eiver Murray Cliffs, 

 near Morgan. 



The genus under which to class this species has been selected 

 with some hesitation. Its shape and variceal characters ap- 

 proach it to Epidromus, particularly through E. turo^itus^ mihi, 

 but the distortion of the short beak is adverse to such associa- 

 tion. The entire peristome and variced outer lip suggest a 

 reference to Nassaria, which has, however, teeth on the pillar 

 and much different shape ; with JPhos it agrees in contour and 

 in the short twisted beak, but it lacks the characteristic basal 

 groove of the pillar, and otherwise differs by its variced and 

 ■entire aperture. 



FAMILY NASSIN^. 



GrENUS NaSSA. 

 SYNOPSIS OE SPECIES. 



Inner lip with a rugose callus ; outer lip denticulated within, 

 with a marginal varix (subg. Hima), 1. N. Tatei. 



Inner and outer lips smooth ; variced externally (subg. 

 Pheontis). 2. N. crassigranosa. 



