268 MR. E. A. SMITH ON THE MOLLUSCA [May 6, 



New Hebrides. 



The seven species of shells from these islands were all collected at 

 the small island of Api, which " lies south of Amboyna and Mati- 

 colo and between these islands and Efate or Sandwich Island," and 

 which, according to Moseley, " had certainly never been landed 

 upon before by any scientific man or naval officer " until the visit of 

 the ' Challenger.' It is not surprising, therefore, that of the few 

 species brought home four are apparently new, although it is with 

 some reluctance that I name forms so variable and puzzling as the 

 Melaniae of the South-Sea Islands. 



1. Helicina subl^evigata, Pfeiffer. 



Helicina sublcevigata, Pfeiffer, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853, p. 87 ; 

 Monog. Pneumon. p. 384 ; Sowerby, Thes. Conch, vol. iii. p. 290, 

 pi. 275. figs. 339 & 340 ; Conch. Icon. vol. xix. pi. 29. figs. 265 a, b. 



The seven specimens from Api are all much smaller than the types 

 described by Pfeiffer, and belong to the unhanded variety, one of 

 them being of a pinkish-red tinge and the rest yellower. A feature 

 worth noticing, and which has hitherto been overlooked, is the 

 peculiarity of the apex of the spire. The first whorl is convex and 

 smooth, and abruptly defined from the next, which is sculptured at 

 its commencement with three or four strong spiral ridges, which, 

 however, soon disappear. 



The figures in the ' Thesaurus ' are somewhat enlarged, but give a 

 very fair notion of the form, those in the ' Conchologica Iconica,' on 

 the contrary, being too depressed and too acute at the periphery. 

 Sowerby, in his description in the latter work, characterizes the lip 

 as red, which is very unusual ; for out of a dozen shells with perfect 

 lips all have them white at the margin with one exception, in which 

 it is orange like the rest of the aperture. 



2. Pythia scarab^eus, Liun. 

 Hab. Api, New Hebrides. 



The largest of the specimens from this locality are about 25 millim. 

 in length. They might with equal propriety be named P. ovatus, 

 Pfeiffer, P. suvaiensis, Mousson, or P. regularis, Gassies, which I 

 regard in the light of mere varieties. As in the case with the 

 examples from the Ke Islands previously referred to, so also among 

 those from Api, many are found with the umbilicus quite closed and 

 others with it partially open, the former probably being identical 

 with P. tortuosa, Mousson. Dr. Cox (Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. 

 Wales, vol. vi. p. 621) has also recorded that some specimens of 

 P. verreauxi " are absolutely imperforate, whilst others are openly 

 umbilicated." 



3. Pythia apiensis. (Plate XXII. figs. 10, 10 a.) 



Shell small, ovate, pyramidal, either narrowly perforate or im- 

 perforate, livid brownish, with the back of the body-whorl dirty 

 yellowish, irregularly spotted with brownish black, or uniformly 



