226 



Locality. — Type specimen taken in the trawl at 105 to 

 77 fathoms 90 miles west of the meridian of Eucla. 



In 1896 off Newland Head, outside Backstairs Passage, 

 I dredged a dilapidated broken specimen lacking the whole of 

 its last whorl, but measuring 23'5 cm. in length, so that in 

 life it must have been a very large shell. No others were 

 taken by me till I secured the type and eight other examples 

 from the material brought up by the trawl of the "Endeavour" 

 in water ranging from 75 to 105 fathoms, and extending from 

 40 to 120 miles west of Eucla. 



The protoconch was absent from every example. Appar- 

 ently it is normally deciduous, and must be shed early, as it 

 is absent from a well-preserved specimen 11 cm. long. It must 

 be large, and probably resembles that of S. mamilla, which, 

 however, is almost always intact. The whitish band may be 

 centrally well marked and fade away at both margins. 



The species is named after Mr. Dannevig, the Common- 

 wealth Director of Fisheries, to whom I was indebted for 

 much help in securing the material obtained during my short 

 voyage on the "Endeavour." 



Type in my collection. 



Scaphella roadnightae, McCoy. PI. xvi., figs. 1, 2. 



Voluta roadnightce, McCoy, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1881, vol. 

 viii., oth Series, p. 89, pi. vii., figs. 1, 2: Type locality — Ninety- 

 mile Beach, Gippsland, Victoria; Tryon, Man. Cdnch., 1882, vol. 

 iv., p. 96, pi. xxx., fig. 128; Sowerby, Thes. Conch., 1887, p. 298, 

 Sp. 78, pi. 573 (Voluta, pi. xiv.), fig. 143; Pritchard and Gatliff, 

 Proc. Boy. Soc, Victoria, 1897, vol. x. (New Series), part 2, 

 p. 282, "Portland (Nat. Mus.)" ; A. Kenyon, Proc, Mai. Soc. 

 London, 1899, p. 267; Baldwin-Spencer, Proc. Mai. Soc, London. 

 1901, vol. iv., p. 184; Tate and May, Proc Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 

 1901, vol. xxvi., part 3, p. 360 1 , Maria Island (May), east coast, 

 near Swansea (Mrs. Irvine), Tasmania; Pritchard and Gatliff, 

 op. clt., 1906 (1905), vol. xviii., part 2, p. 45. 



This species was found by Baron von Mueller when on 

 a visit to the Gippsland Lake District at his hotel, where it 

 was in use to prop open his bedroom window. It had been 

 found on the Ninety-mile Beach by Mrs. Roadnight, his 

 landlord's mother, after whom it is named. It was given 

 by Mueller to Sir Frederick McCoy, who described it in 1881. 

 In 1899 some seven specimens were known, two of them from 

 the eastern coast of Tasmania. Later, several were obtained 

 from lobster-pots on the Victorian coast, and Mr. Bastow 

 kindly sent me one. Mr. Dannevig, the Director of Fisheries, 

 tells me he has taken several specimens when trawling off the 

 coasts of Victoria and Tasmania, east of Bass Strait, all dead ; 

 and occasionally off the South Australian coast, but the first 

 living examples were brought up from about 100 fathoms 



