26 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. SAMARANG. 



This elaborately carved species is one of considerable interest in a geological point of 

 view, from the circumstance of its being the first living representative yet discovered of 

 a group of highly sculptured Volutes abounding in the Eocene portion of the Tertiary beds 

 of the British Isles. The principal of these, V. lima, elevata, crenulata, and digitalina, were 

 distinguished by Mr. Swainson as a subgenus, under the name Volutilithes. The Voluta 

 abyssicola is not identical in species with the fossils, being characterized by a closer and 

 more sharply-defined pattern of lattice-work, which comprises as many as thirty transverse, 

 and forty longitudinal, ridges in a whorl. The upper edge of the whorls is depressly 

 flattened at the sutures, forming a narrow ascending canal. The ridges are slightly nodulous 

 at the point of crossing, and round the upper extremity impart a coronated aspect to the 

 shell. The columellar plaits, four in number, are sharp and delicate. The outer lip is thin, 

 and does not appear to be mature. The only specimen collected was dredged from a bank 

 of dead shells and rounded iron-stones, at the depth of 132 fathoms. 



6. MITRA, Lamarck. 



The animal of Mitra has in general a very short foot, straight and continuous from 

 side to side in some species, but in others notched, and produced, with a thickened anterior 

 margin. It is commonly narrow and rounded, or acuminated posteriorly, and it bears a very 

 small semi-transparent horny operculum, in some instances scarcely visible. The siphon is 

 mostly directed forwards, and the somewhat short tapering tentacles have the eyes either 

 situated about half-way, or they are placed on the outer side of the base. The head is long 

 and very flat, and the tentacles are very close together at their bases. The proboscis is 

 rarely exserted when they are crawling and lively, but as they become languid after capture 

 it becomes distended with water and protrudes considerably. 



1. Mitra rufilirata. PI. X. Pig. 26. Mitr. testa ovato-fusiformi, spira subcanaliculata, apice acuta, 

 transversini undique lirata, lirarum interstitiis creberriine subtiliter clathratis, columella sexplicata, apertura 

 longiuscula, angusta, labro simplici ; virescente-alba, liris lineis rufo-fuscis interruptis undique tincta, in 

 medio subobscure fasciata. 



Hab. China Sea. 



The colouring is very characteristic in this species. The ridges are regularly stained 

 throughout with interrupted red-brown lines, a profusion of which in the middle produces 

 an obscure band. 



2. Mitra Suluensis. PL X. Pig. 27. Mitr. fusiformi-turrita, apice acuta, anfractibus subrotundato- 

 angulatis, undique longitudinaliter lirato-costatis, costarum interstitiis sulcato-clatliratis, columella quadri- 

 plicatfi, apertura angusta; fulvo, fusco, ceeruleoque varie tincta, apice fusco. 



Hab. Sooloo Islands. 



