56 COLLECnONS FEOM MELANESIA. 



44. Voluta volva, var. (Plate V. fig. K.) 



{Chemnitz ?), Reeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 24. 

 Volnta pallida, Gray, Kiener, Coq. Viv. pi. 48. 



Hah. Thursday Island, Torres Straits, 3-4 fattoms. 



Tj'pical specimens of V. volva should be uniformly of a fleshy buflf 

 tint, exhibiting the slightest indication of two bands of a somewhat 

 darker colour across the body-whorl ; the normal volutions should 

 be spotted with dark brown immediately beneath the suture, and 

 stained with yellowish brown above it, and the aperture at a short 

 distance from the margin of the lip should be of a lighter brown. 

 Two specimens from Swan River, presented to the British Museum 

 by Capt. Mangles, R.N., possess the above characteristics, but in 

 addition have numerous, more or less wavy and zigzag pale 

 brownish lines, most conspicuous upon the two indistinct transverse 

 zones, extending downwards from the suture, but not reticulating 

 in a longitudinal direction. The only specimen obtained by Dr. 

 Coppinger, although having the labrum much broken away, still 

 possesses considerable interest in that it resembles the specimens 

 just mentioned, but with all the tints much darkened, in which 

 respect it approximates more closely to V. reticulata. Reeve ; indeed 

 the group of Volutes from North, North-west, and West Australia 

 includes a number of species which appear to have several charac- 

 ters in common, and present considerable difficulty of distinction : 

 such are, in addition to those previously mentioned, V. turneri. 

 Gray, V. pratexta, Reeve, and V. ellioti, Spwerby. 



45. Eanella rana. 



Murex rana, Linn., Hanley, Ipsa Linn. Conch, p. 284. 



Ranella albivaricosa, Meeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 2; Kohelt, Con.-Cab. 



p. 133 pi. 38. figs. 4, 5, 8, 9. 

 Bursa siiensonii, march. Cat. YoMi, p. 106. 

 Var. = Ranella subgranosa, Beeh, Reeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 1 ; Sowerby, 



Conch. III. fig. 18; Kohelt, Con.-Cab. p. 135, pi. 39. fig. 2. 

 = Ranella beekii, Kiener, Coq. Viv. p. 5, pi. 4. fig. 1. 



Hah. Port MoUe, Queensland, 14 fms., rock. 



Other localities attributed to this species are China and Ceylon 

 {albivaricosei) ; Philippine Islands and China (subgranosa) ; Nicobar 

 Islands {suensonii). 



46. Ranella pUcbella. 



Forbes, Voyage of the ' Rattlesnake,' vol. ii. (1852), p. 382, pi. 3. 



figs. Q a,h. 

 Rauella jucunda, A. Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853, p. 70. 



Hah. North Australia (Adams) ; dredged in 8 to 11 fms. water, 

 on a bottom of sand and shells, between Cumberland Island and 

 Point Slade (lat. 21° S., long. 149° 20' E.) (Forbes) ; Port Curtis, 



