39 



specimen is usually 24-30. Tail valve having a low, obtuse 

 mucro, decidedly in front of the middle. Interior bluish. 

 Sinus rather wide, denticulate,! the area behind it porous. 

 Anterior valve having 11, central valves 1, posterior valve 14 

 slits ; teeth obtuse, strongly crenulated. Eaves broad, 

 spongy. Girdle covered with large convex scales, which are 

 very finely, sharply striated. Length 28, breadth 18 mill. 

 Another specimen length 17, breadth 11 mill." 



Those portions of the description printed in italics 

 emphasise the salient features of the species. 



Mr. Pilsbry says :— " The smooth polished central areas, 

 grooved only along the diagonal line at the sides, and the 

 granose-ribbed lateral areas and end valves are characteristic. 

 The black and white colouring is also constant The sculp- 

 ture of the side areas varies greatly in strength. This species 

 has been reported from Tasmania, but on doubtful 

 authority." 



The Conchologia iconka (Monograph of Chiton, published 

 in 1847) gives " Van Biemen's Land " as the habitat of this 

 shell on the authority of Dr. Sinclair, RJST. Presumably, as 

 this Chiton is named after Dr. Sinclair by Gray as a New- 

 Zealand species, the locality given by Reeve four years after- 

 wards may be an error. 



Reeve's notes to this shell in Con. Icon, is : — "Very closely 

 allied to C. capensis and C. pellisserpentis, but distinguished 

 from both by the peculiar structure of the granules, which, 

 to use a mournful comparison, have an appearance like the 

 nails on a coffin." 



C. sinclairi is included in Tenison Woods' Census of the 

 Marine Shells of Tasmania (1877), with the following re- 

 marks : — " A New Zealand shell, whose Tasmanian habitat is 

 doubtful." 



Turning to Professor Hutton's Manual of the New Zealand 

 Mollusca (1880), when I had written the larger part of this 

 paper, to read the description given by him of C. pellisserpefitis 

 I was astonished to find myself accredited as an authority 

 (bracketed with Eeeve) for giving Tasmania as a habitat for 

 C. sinclairi. Although I have been in possession of a copy of 

 this book from the time of its publication by the courtesy of 

 Professor Hutton, I do not recollect having noticed this 

 before. It must assuredly have been a lapsus calami on the 

 part of the Professor (Beddome, no doubt, beiDg intended), 

 for I never possessed the species till about two months ago, 

 when I received examples from Mr. G. B. Sowerby, of 

 London, labelled " New Zealand." 



C. sinclairi may certainly be looked for in Tasmania, 

 although the affinities of the fauna of the island are with 

 Australia and not with New Zealand. 



