110 COLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA. 



56. '? Area imbricata. 



Ilniguiere ; Reeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 73. 



Hab. Port Molle, Queensland, 12 fms. (Goppinger) ; Geelong, 

 Port Philip (Mas. Cuming); Port Essington and ^'.E. Australia 

 {Brit. Mus.). 



The specimens from the above localities belong to one species, 

 and so closely resemble, with the exception of colour, West-Indian 

 examples of this species, that I hesitate to separate them specifi- 

 cally. I fail to discover any good distinctions between A. cunealis, 

 Peeve, A. kraussi, 1'bilippi, and A. imbricata =A. wnibonata, Lamarck, 

 except that the two former generally, but not always, have more 

 rhomboidal grooves on the ligament. 



57. Area (Barbatia) lima. 

 Area lima, Reeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 101. 



Hab. Port Molle, 14 fms., and Thursday Island, 2-6 fms. (Cop- 

 pinger); Burias and Corrigidor, Phibppines (Cuming). 



" Light brown, stained with brown, spotted with brown, pos- 

 teriorly covered with a thin, very fine bristly epidermis." Such is 

 the erroneous description given by Peeve of this species. It is, in 

 fact, a purely white shell throughout, and all the brown stains and 

 spots are merely the remains of the epidermis. The entire surface 

 is ornamented with very numerous close-set fine radiating riblets, 

 which are finely granular, the granules so placed as to form con- 

 centric series. About half a dozen of the costae down the posterior 

 side and a few at the anterior end are thicker than the rest on the 

 central portion of the valve, and consequently have larger granules, 

 those behind being further apart also. The few ribs towards the 

 middle being duplicate, as stated by Peeve, is an individual rather 

 than a specific character. The interior is white, and the margin 

 crenulated, the crenulation corresponding in coarseness with the 

 radiating costoe. 



58. Area (Barbatia) tenebrica. 

 Ana tenebrica, Reeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 105. 



Hab. Samar, Philippines (CV,« ting); Port Essington (Capt. Wick- 

 ham in lirit. Mus.); Port Curtis (Dr. Coppinger) ; Bombay (Mus. 

 Cuming). 



The surface of this species is minutely reticulated with exces- 

 sively fine radiating and concentric lira?, of which the former are 

 the coarser, subgranular, and generally alternating finer and coarser. 

 The vahes exhibit an indication of a faint depression down the 

 middle, from the umbo to the centre of the ventral margin, which 

 in some specimens is slightly incurved or sinuated at that part. It 

 is also thickened within, smooth, and rounded. 



The interior is bluish white and radiately striated, the striae being 



