426 



FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



CAECUM EXILE, De Folin. 

 De Folin, loc. cit., p. 687, pi. iii., figs. 20 - 22. 



Four specimens of this were collected with the preceding. That 

 two are a pale umber colour suggests that the unique shell dredged 

 by the " Challenger" off Tongatabu and described as crystalline, 

 was faded. I have also taken this at Panie, New Caledonia. 



CAECUM GULOSUM, sp. nov. 



(Fig. 16). 



Shell white, slender, rather, curved, suddenly 

 expanded behind the aperture, concentrically sculp- 

 tured by fine close threads which grow coarser 

 anteriorly. Septum much exserted, flattened distally 

 and with two rough ring ridges. Length 1'8, breadth 

 4 mm. 



One specimen from the lagoon beach. 



Nearest to C. attenuatum which is narrower and 

 more curved, also allied to C. amputatum, Hedley,* 

 from which it differs by being smaller and of a more 

 Fig. 16. slender build. 



VEEMETUS MAXIMUS, Sowerby. 



(Fig. 17). 



Tryon, Man. Conch, viii., 1886, p. 184, pi. lv., figs. 89, 90; 

 Morch, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 166. 



The Funafuti people consider this species good food, and call it 

 " gea." It occurs in abundance in large clumps of Millepora 

 growing on the lagoon side of the southern horn of the main islet. 

 Here the earlier and irregularly coiled whorls were imbedded in 

 the coral mass, but the last half foot of the tube stood up erect 

 and free. What I consider the same species also grew, though 

 rarely, on the outer reef-flat at low water, where it was altogether 

 prostrate and had a more pronounced keel. 



One fine specimen is thirty-five mm. across the aperture. Within 

 the shell is white, smooth and porcellanous, at the slightly everted 

 lip it has a faint purple tinge which soon fades. Externally it 

 has a longitudinal, dorsal keel or crest, and is concentrically 

 furrowed by growth lines. The distal part of the tube is, perhaps 

 as a repair after injury, sometimes plugged with a shelly wad. 



The animal is bold and active, if touched it shrinks two or three 

 inches down the tube, but soon recovers confidence and rises to 

 the aperture. The mantle margin is sometimes entire, sometimes 

 notched dorsally. The long thick retractor or columella muscle 

 is ventral. 



* Hedley Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., (2) viii., 1893, p. 604, 



