44 COLLECTIONS PROW MELANESIA. 



i-.\ tli more conspicuous. In .1/. acanthostephes, at the base of the 

 spines on the canal there is a small dark spot on one side, which is 

 best Been when the shell is wetted. 



14. Murex macgillivrayi. (Plate V. fig. C.) 



Dohm, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 203. 



Mun gjillivrayi (Morchv), Sowerby, Thes. Conch, vol. iv. p. Z t 



fig. I ( >i_> (wrongly coloured). 



Hah. Lizard Island (Macgillivray). Port Curtis, Queensland, 

 0-11 fins. : Tort Darwin, 8-12 fms. ; and Prince of Wales Channel, 

 Torres Straits, 7-9 fms. (Coppinger). 



The figure in Sowerby's •Thesaurus' gives no idea of the colour 

 of this species. The specimens described by Dohrn are ovcrcleaned, 

 mnl much of the painting is removed. These were in consequence 

 correctly characterized as " white, with yellowish lirse." The shells 

 collected by Dr. Coppinger at Port Curtis are in fresh aud perfect 

 condition, and show the true colouring of the species. It is a yel- 

 lowish shell, exhibiting three purplish-brown bands on the body- 

 whorl, of which the uppermost is the broadest, being situated around 

 the broadest part of the volution. The central one is the narrowest 

 in the four specimens under examination, and placed midway between 

 the other two, the lowermost falling at the base of the convexity, or, 

 in other words, immediately below the third spine on the varices. 

 The spiral lira? are fine, reddish, in some examples more deeply 

 coloured than in others, and terminate at the margin of the labrum 

 in red dots, which fall between the lobe-like prolongations. Other 

 larger examples from Port Darwin have the three purplish-brown 

 hands less pronounced and the general tint paler. All have the 

 il blotched with brown in front belo.v the spine on the dextral 

 margin. One of these blotches, situated between the second and third 

 spines, is constantly the longest. Within the aperture the external 

 handing is seen, and the cavity of the last varix, when not tilled with 

 callus, is almost black, forming a dark submarginal stripe. The canal 

 is long and straight, tapering, and blotched with brown in two or 

 three places. 



The specimens from Torres Straits are paler than the Port-Curtis 

 examples, have but little trace of the bands, and have the uppermost 

 spine longer, curved, and upturned. 



15. Murex axicornis. 



I At march; Rimer's Coq. 77r.pl. 42. fig. 2; Reeve, Conch. Icon. pi. 1 ; ">. 

 fig. 37, pi. 10. fig. 37, v.ir. : Kiister'sl 'on.-Cab. pi. 21.fig.3; Sowerbi/, 

 Thes. Conch, pi. 382. fig. 31. 



Hah. Moluccas; Philippines (Reeve): Prince of Wales Channel, 

 5-7 fms., and Thursday Island. Torres Straits. 4 fms. (Coppinger)', 

 Palm Island, N.E. Australia ( Brazier). 



