282 



Eight. Dredged in 6 fathoms, and in 15 fathoms off St. 

 JFrancis Island in poor condition ; in 20 fathoms, Gulf St. 

 Vincent and Investigator Strait, few, mostly dead ; in 25 

 fathoms, Spencer Gulf, 1 moderate ; in 40 fathoms off Beach- 

 port, 7 perfect and 19 good : in 55 fathoms. Cape Borda, 

 7 moderate: in 62 fathoms off Cape Borda, 1 poor; in 110 

 fathoms off Beachport, 2 good, but somewhat decolourized. 

 It is not a common shell in our waters or on our beaches. 

 Angas, in Proc. Zool. Soc, Lond., 1865, p. 172, gave its 

 station as "deep water," Gulf St. Vincent. This would mean 

 ■something less than 25 fathoms. It is found perfect as deep 

 as 40 fathoms and moderately good up to 55 fathoms, but 

 l)eyond that poor. 



Hedley says, loc. cit. : — "ISro specimens examined afford- 

 -ed an opportunity for describing the protoconch." I may 

 add, therefore, that it is elongate and pointed of 4i whorls, 

 which are convex, and have near their middle two carinas, 

 very close together, the lower of which enlarges and forms 

 the lower of the two pearl rows in the first spire-whorl ; the 

 upper carina rather later deflects rather abruptly upwards 

 and forms the upper row. The protoconch is axially closely 

 lirate. The shell when adult may vary from 8'1 mm. to 

 4"1, and may when of equal length vary distinctly in obes- 

 ity, and also in the roundness of the lower part of the body- 

 whorl. 



Trifora angasl, Crosse and Fischer, rar. leuca, n. var. 



This shell is usually longer and narrower than the ave- 

 rage typical shell, is less rounded in the body-whorl, and 

 lias the sutural furrow rather more distinct, but in all these 

 respects both the type and the variety vary. It is not a dead 

 and bleached shell, but is taken quite white in a j^erfectly 

 fresh condition. But some few specimens are uniformly very 

 faintly brown, some have only the base slightly brown, some 

 are just tinted brown over a greater or smaller vertical ex- 

 tent of the spire, or over the centre of the whorl for one or 

 two turns, proving it jDrobably only a variety. 



It is taken perfect on the beach at St. Francis Island 

 and Scales Bay on the West Coast ; in 6, 15 to 20, and 35 

 fathoms off St. Francis Island, 14 fathoms off Ardrossan, 20 

 fathoms Investigator Strait, 45 fathoms off the Neptunes, 

 55 fathoms off Cape Borda, 40 and 110 fathoms off Ca23e 

 Borda ; while in poor condition it is found in 130 fathoms 

 ■off Cape Jaffa, and in 150 fathoms off Beachport. My dredg- 

 ings have yielded more good specimens of this variety, and 

 to a greater depth, than of the typical M. angasi, Crs. and 

 Fischer. 



