88 
South Aush‘aiw.n Shells. 
S.A. NAT.; VOI.. XIV. 
May, 1933 . 
entirely open from below; mouth very large, broadly effuse be^ 
low; outer lip retracted, joining a wide sinus above; columella 
thin; arcuate. Tj-pe- — P. qxiadripartita Ascanius 1772 (British 
Isles). The egg-capsules are gelatinous, hydrophanous, ovate, 
containing very numerous eggs arranged in single file, on a very 
long funiculus, folded in a loose spiral. The embryo has a spiral 
shell, an operculum, and is capable of swimming by means of a. 
ciliated veil. The animals of this genus are blind, like most 
creatures that seek their food by burrowing. They frequent 
mud-flats, the surface of which they perforate and probe with 
their fattened heads for the small bivalves which constitute 
their prey; these they seize and swallow entire, breaking their 
shells by means of their testaceous, nruscular gizzards. In all 
seas, from the shore-line to moderate depths. Jeffreys, comment- 
ing on the name of the genus, stated it should be Phylline, if de- 
rived Irorn the leaf-like appearance of the shell; but that name 
was given by Oken to a genus of parasitic Annelids. 
P. angasi Crosse 1865 (Bullaea) (not P. aperta Linne 1767, 
from Cape of Cfood klope). PI. 1, fig. 16, “Angas’s Philine.’'" 
Oval, rounded and manifesting a little concavity at the centre of 
its summit, convex and almost cylindrical outside, rolled up inside; 
thin, transparent, somewhat glistening, milk-white; growth striae 
exceeding]}' fine and a little rugose; mouth very broad in the mid- 
dle and at the base; outer lip semicircular simple, acute, and ex- 
ceeding the rest of the shell a little; inner lip in adults covered with 
a callous deposit, thin, white and transparent. Total length 40, 
greatest diameter 30 mm. Generally distributed in South Austra- 
lian waters, not uncommon, beach and dredged to 10 fathoms, 
(lype localit}' — Gulf St. \dncent). It is probable that, like P. ap- 
erta, this shell in the water, and in the living animal, is quite trans- 
parent, and without colour, and that it only takes later the milk- 
white tint. The stomachal plates are very solid, and affect the 
appearance of a three-cornered hat. Tiic Pinglish shell is now 
accepted as P. aperta qnadriparUla Ascanius, but was formerly 
considered to be identical with P. aperta from South Africa. Jef- 
freys gave the distribution of P. aperta as from Upper Norway 
to the Canaries, the ^lediterranean, Adriatic and Aegean Seas, 
at from 4-110 fathoms; specimens from Cape of Good Hope, 
Australia, and Xew' Zealand appearing to be specifically iden- 
tical and stated that he had in vain attempted to discover a single 
distinguishimr character, especially in regard to the South African 
shells: 
P. columnaria fIedIe^' Sc May 1908. drapezoidal oblong, 
tliin, transparent, milk-white; spiral scratches fine, close, crossed 
by irregular, inconspicuous growth lines; mouth broad below, 
narrow above, the summit arche.d. projecting be}'ond the spire,. 
