224 



2. There may be two spirals of large crescentic or arrow- 

 hea'ded spots, with flames at the suture ; var. lunulidigata. 



3. These may be reduced to two spirals of small spots the 

 size of peppercorns ; var. punctisligata. 



4. There may be no spots except a few small ones on the 

 first and second spire-whorls, the surface being more or less 

 deeply and densely reticulated with brown; var. dictua, 

 Verco. 



5. The axial lightning zigzags may be crossed by two 

 continuous deep purple-brown bands, one below the shoulder, 

 the other over the lower part of the volution ; var. con- 

 nectens. 



6. The only colour ornament may be these two bands and 

 some small flames at the suture, all the axial markings being 

 absent ; var. bicincta. 



7. The subsutural flames may unite to form a third 

 spiral band; var. tricincta. 



8. Only the lower spiral band may be present, but this 

 quite valid ; var. unicincta. 



9. There may be no colour-markings, the shell being pure 

 white; var. alba. 



I have had several of these colour varieties reproduced in 

 pi. xi. and xii. 



The habitat of the species is very restricted. It has 

 been taken in both Gulf St. Vincent and Spencer Gulf, and 

 at some points is a fairly common shell. Mr. Mathews says 

 the blacks tell him the animal lives on sandbanks nine or ten 

 chains from the shore, which are covered by about 18 in. of 

 water at low spring tide. He has taken them crawling ashore. 

 It has been collected as far to the east as Kingston, in Lace- 

 pede Bay. I found none on the beaches from Sceales Bay to 

 Point Sinclair, nor on St. Francis Island nor at Esperance, 

 Hopetoun, King George Sound, nor on the west coast of Aus- 

 tralia. It has not 'been recorded from Victoria. 



Its bathymetrical distribution is interesting. Taken alive, 

 of large size and beautifully painted, in all its varieties in 

 the shallow water of the gulfs, and with only the lace-like 

 reticulations, from the lobster-pots at Port Victor, and in 75 

 to 120 fathoms of water from 40 to 120 miles west of Eucla, 

 9 examples. The shells from these greater depths were all 

 dead, mostly the home of hermit crabs, and all had the faint 

 reticulated ornament except two, which showed the single 

 deep band ; none had the axial lightning markings. 



Scaphella verconis, Tate. 



Voluta verconis, Tate, Trans. Roy. Soc, S.A., 1892, vol. xv., 

 p. 125, pi. i., fig. 5: Type locality — Gulf St. Vincent (Verco). 



