38 Melvill, Molluscan Fauna of the Arabian Sea, etc. 



Such a discovery is of very exceptional interest, for (since 

 S. mirabilis Sowb., 1870, has been proved only synonymous 

 with 5. ListeriTh. Gray, 1852) no addition to the genus has 

 been recorded since 1857, when Mr. Lovell Reeve des- 

 cribed the still unique 5. taurus.^ This is more than 

 forty-one years ago, and monographers have more than 

 once expressed a pretty decided opinion that the genus 

 might be considered complete. 



It belongs to a section of the genus — Conomurex 

 Bayle — characterized by the outer lip being hardly dilated, 

 spire short, facies cone-shaped, aperture narrow. The 

 abundant 5. mauritianus Lam. {cylindricus Swn.) and 

 6\ luhuanus Linn., are the only other recent Conomurices. 



The two specimens of 6". belutschiensis before me only 

 differ in size, and I have taken the larger for the type. 

 The shell is thick, short, coniform, heavy for its size, the 

 whorls covered with a smooth olive epidermis. The eight 

 upper whorls, inclusive of the two apical, are all small, 

 the third, fourth, and fifth are spirally tornate, the next 

 three, with the larger lowest whorl, are smooth, irregularly 

 formed, and gradate at the sutures, the last whorl is also 

 obtusely angled and shouldered a little way below the 

 suture, and is squarely, but irregularly, spotted and 

 dashed with bright brown markings. The aperture is 

 narrow, straight, interior Hght flesh colour, outer lip twice 

 sinuous towards the base, excavate at the upper part, 

 columellar margin white, incrassate, polished, smooth, and 

 straight. 



From all the many forms of 5. mauritianus Lam. I 

 have seen, it differs in this polished thickening of the 

 columella, and the very stunted coniform shape. 



It is hoped that the types of all the species in this and 

 the preceding paper may be deposited in the British 

 Museum (Natural History), S. Kensington. 



* Proc. Zool. Soc, 1857, p. 207, PL 37, fig. 3. 



