524 Transactions 
also faintly shown on earlier whorls by growth-lines. Columella consider 
ably excavated and twisted below, leading to the apparent formation of a 
long narrow elevated plait bordering canal. Inner lip spread as a sharply 
marked thin glaze beyond pillar and upon parietal wall, narrowed to a point 
below. Operculum not seen. 
Height, 38mm.; width, 15mm. Height of aperture with canal, 
5 mm. ; canal, about 12 mm. 
Holotype (dredged by Mr. W. La Roche in 20 fathoms off Opotiki, Bay 
of Plenty) in the author's collection. 
This shell has the dimensions of V. caudata Q. & G., but differs totally 
in the shape of its whorls and canal. From V. mandarina Duclos it differs 
in spiral sculpture and relatively much lower spire. Its nearest ally is 
V. marshalli Murdoch, described also in this volume (p. 159), from which 
it is separable by its sutural flattening, differently shaped whorls, different 
sinus, longer canal, and slightly different protoconch. A fossil specimen of 
this species, from Castlecliff, is figured for comparison with the new species 
(Plate 52, fig. 1). А 
Note on Phalium labiatum (Perry) and its subsp. pyrum (Lamk.). 
advantage be adopted in New Zealand. Hedley also prefers to use the 
name Cassidea generically. The shells differ considerably at sight, and, 
times seen. he shell attains a considerably larger size, is thinner, and — 
always more inflated. Nodulous keels are enerally a strong feature of |— 
the sculpture, and though these are occasionally absent the spire-whorls are 
nearly always keeled. The basal spiral grooves may be very distinct OF 
hich in C a 
partially closed up by the very small plate formed by the inner lip, while 
n C. pyra (Lamk.) it is wide open and the plate is very large and not | 
encroaching. С. pyra (Lamk.) has i 
