MARSHALL: ON NEW BRITISH MARINE SHELLS. 263 



occurred in that expedition, the former being rubbed and 

 chipped, so that the species is not very well represented in 

 the British Museum ; and they were taken in Torres Straits, 

 the gulf dividing New Guinea from Australia, in seven fathoms. 

 The following is the description taken from the 'Challenger' 

 Report: — 



'Shell. — Squat, with a broad flat base, a rapidly-contracting 

 bent spire, a small tip, convex whorls, an impressed suture, and 

 a small pear-shaped mouth. Sculpture, none. Colour, glassy 

 white. Apex, very small, acuminately symmetrically rounded. 

 Spire, small and bent above, enlarging very rapidly in breadth, 

 with concave profile lines. Whorls 9, short, broad, of slow 

 increase, slightly convex. Suture slight, a little impressed, 

 scarcely oblique. Mouth, small, pear-shaped. Outer lip, 

 arched; its edge retreats above, is rounded in the middle, and 

 is patulous throughout. Inner lip, continuously arched across 

 the body and down the short broad pillar. Height, o'o93in. ; 

 breadth, o"045in. 



'September 8, 1874. Flinders Passage, Torres Straits, 

 7 fathoms. This species is remarkable for the breadth of its 

 base and the smallness of its tip. Unfortunately, the specimen 

 which I regard as full grown is rubbed and chipped, and the 

 two which are perfect are young and imperfectly developed, 

 especially about the mouth.' 



I have this shell from the Land's End, and from Scilly in 

 about 35 fathoms, where Mr. Clifford Burkill dredged it in 

 1888, and also in this year. The 'Challenger' example is 

 slightly under a line in length; my Land's End specimens are 

 slightly over, and the Scilly ones a line and a half. 



It would appear to be a shallow water species. I had 

 given it a MS. name in my collection as E. distorta var. 

 tumidosa, as there is a squat form of E. distorta with a broad 

 base leading up to it; but on further observation it is seen that 

 the aperture in E. latipes is smaller, the spire is stouter, the 

 whorls slightly convex, the apex blunt, the base much wider, 



