146 



grown at the entrance to American River, Kangaroo Island, 

 and 2 fragments eroded, in 40 fathoms off Beachport; also 

 in the Great Australian Bight, alive, in 72 and 100 fathoms. 



When quite young, up to 25 mm. in length, the shell 

 is thin, pyriform, with a depressed exsert spire, and uni- 

 coloured yellow, the spire tinged with brown. Then dark 

 brown spots and splashes up to 2 or 3 mm. in size appear 

 over the anterior third or from the spire to the notch. At 

 30 mm. the colour becomes light purplish -brown, with two 

 obscure yellowish-white transverse bands about 2 mm. wide, 

 with about two-fourths of the shell between them. At 

 40 mm. the purplish tint is deeper and the spots are still 

 discrete, or the whole dorsum may be clouded with spots of 

 irregular shape and obscure margins running into or super- 

 imposed on one another. At 50 mm. the spots may be nearly 

 effaced, and besides the two pale cross bands the indistinct 

 spots may be seen to form obscure interrupted dark mahogany 

 transverse bands. At 65 mm. the shell has grown more 

 globular, being 50 mm. wide and 40 mm. high ; it is still 

 very thin ; the outer lip is inflected, slightly convex, 14 mm. 

 wide, and edentulous; the dorsum may have about 6 trans- 

 verse dark rusty mahogany bands. After this the labrum 

 flattens through callous deposits at the latero-labral margin, 

 and teeth appear along the labral edge and the opposite 

 columellar margin. The labral teeth become more valid and 

 extend slightly over the inferior surface. They seem very 

 often to extend to the extreme outer border, but this is an 

 illusion due to blackish-brown rays, which extend from the 

 border, and become narrow as they approach the teeth. 

 These rays are absent from the columellar side, where round 

 or oval spots are found. The teeth on both sides of the 

 aperture are white or nearly so; also the central part of the 

 base as well, but this varies greatly in degree, in some cases 

 the base is almost wholly dark brown. As a rule the border- 

 ing latero-basal callus is nearly black. It may extend in 

 varying degrees over the dorsum, and in some examples the 

 whole dorsal surface may be very dark, producing what is 

 popularly known as "the black cowry. " 



Reeve's variety B of C. scottii from Port Lincoln was 

 evidently the form which Gaskoin subsequently described as 

 C. ther sites. It is now degraded to a varietal position. 



C. friendii from Geographe Bay is a much narrower and 

 lower shell than the South Australian C. ther sites, and might 

 properly be regarded as a different species, but for the Esper- 

 ance shells, which relatively are broader and higher than 

 the former, but not proportionately so broad and high as 

 the latter. 



