258 MR. E. A. SMITH ON THE 



Eiver, New South Wales, and Murray Eiver {Brazier) : North 

 Australia (J. It. Elsey): Mackenzie Eiver (Port-Ussmffton Ex- 

 pedition 1845) : Eurdekin Eiver, Queensland (Brazier and JPori- 

 Essington Expedition 1845) : Victoria ; S. Australia {Brit. Mus.). 



Dr. Brot appears to me quite correct in uniting M. teirica, 

 Conrad, with this species. The colour, as well as the sculpture, is 

 subject to considerable variation. Some specimens are uniformly 

 olivaceous, whilst others are closely spotted with small streaks and 

 minute dots of a dark red, the latter being pretty constantly upon 

 the spiral raised ridges. Two or three of the latter, around the 

 middle of the whorls of the spire and at the upper part of the last 

 volution, become more or less tubercular on crossing the plicae. 



Some of the specimens from the Burdekin Eiver are remark- 

 able for their large size and their general resemblance to M. scabra 

 of Mliller. The largest is 34 millim. long and 12 wide. The 

 costge are more numerous and less prominent than in the normal 

 form, the tuberculation in consequence being likewise more feebly 

 expressed, and the last volution is large and ventricose. To give 

 an idea of the great variation in the number of longitudinal 

 plicae, I may note that the specimen bearing the fewest has but 

 seven on the last whorl, whilst one (from Limestone Creek, 

 Burdekin Eiver) has just double that number. M. scahrella of 

 Pliilippi, said to come from Java, is very like this species, and 

 may eventually prove to be the same. 



3. Melania aijstealis, Lea. 



Melania australis. Lea, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 185 ; Brot in Kuster^s 

 Con.-Cab. p. 285, pi. xxviii. fig. 17 (copied from Reeve) & 17 a, 

 pi. xxxi. fig. 3 ; id. Amer. Journ. Conch, vi. Append, p. 303. 



Melania australis, Reeve, Con. Icon. fig. 82 j Smith, Voy. Erebus 8f 

 Terror, pi. iv. fig. 3. 



Melania decussata, Brot, Materiaux, i. p. 55. 



Melania eerea, Brot, Rev. Zool. I860, pi. xvii. fig. 13; id. Con.-Cab. 

 pi. xxviii. fig. 16; id. Amer. Journ. Conch, vi. Append, p. 303. 



Hab. Victoria Eiver, N. Australia {Lea and Beeve) : Fitzroy 

 Eiver, Swan Eiver, Port Essington, and Eiver-head, Dampier's 

 Archipelago {British Museum). 



The most common form of this species is that figured by Brot 

 under the name of M. cerea. The ribs on the body-whorl are 

 not usually so much developed as they appear to be in the speci- 

 men figured in the ' Conchologia Iconica.' In this respect it 



