512 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XXI, October 1967 
the north coast of Tanna, New Hebrides, from 
black volcanic sand (Mrs. H. Dale, August 
30 , 1966 ). 
Oliva tricolor Lamarck 1811. Ann. Mus. Hist. 
Nat. 16:316. 
The coloring of this species consists of a 
profuse mottling of clouded blue and saffron- 
yellow spots with, in most specimens, a large 
proportion of green, showing two bands, one 
around the middle of the shell, and one beneath 
the sutures. But the most characteristic feature 
of the species is that the spire is obliquely tes- 
sellated with black and a slight mixture of red. 
The aperture is white. 
This species has the outline of O. reticulata 
(Roding) and not of O. elegans Lamarck. It 
has the salmon-colored fasciole, but the color of 
shell is very different from either. The dark 
specimens are bluish green with bands of 
slightly darker shade. The entire shell is spotted 
with yellow; spire and lip are coarsely marked 
with brown. Light-colored specimens often have 
bright yellow and blue spots with the bands 
obsolate. Such specimens often resemble 
O. caerulea (Roding) so closely as to be separ- 
ated only by the violet-colored aperture of the 
latter. O. philantha Duclos 1835 is a light- 
colored form approaching O. caerulea in ex- 
ternal appearance. 
This species is common from many Indo- 
Pacific localities. 
Oliva caerulea (Roding 1798). Mus. Bolten- 
ianum. Porphyria caerulea. Die himmel- 
blaue Dattel. Gmel. V, Oliva fp. 17x. 
Martini 2, t. 48, f. 518. Rumpf t. 39, 
f. 5. 13 St. 
Of the three references cited by Roding the 
one of Martini (1773, pi. 48, fig. 518) is the 
only one which agrees with the species. That of 
Gmelin (1791), Voluta oliva var. x, is based 
on three figures: Lister (1685, pi. 739, fig. 28), 
which is O. reticulata (Roding 1798); Rumpf 
(1705, pi. 39, fig. 3), which is O. sericea 
(Roding 1798) ; and Martini (1773, figs. 512, 
513), which is O. reticulata (Roding). The 
third reference by Roding to Rumpf (1705, 
pi. 39, fig. 5) represents O. tricolor Lamarck 
1811 and O. elegans Lamarck 1811, but cer- 
tainly not O. caerulea. 
This species is known in almost all of the 
literature as O. episcopalis Lamarck 1811. It is 
unfortunate that we are compelled to accept the 
O. caeriilea of Roding, but the name has priority 
and has been extensively used. It was proposed 
by H. and A. Adams (1858), and Morch 
(1863). Needless to add, the references to the 
literature, with few exceptions, are to O. epis- 
copalis Lamarck. 
The typical pattern is a shell covered with 
scattered punctations mingled with a few little 
black specks, but in certain examples the spots 
are grouped in such a manner as to form two 
interrupted bands situated one at the top, the 
other about the middle of the last whorl. In 
others the pattern is transformed into two longi- 
tudinal undulations. The aperture is a deep 
violet. 
This is a common species, distributed 
throughout the Indo-Pacific. 
We will mention two of the named color 
forms. 
luguhris Lamarck 1811. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 
16:313. 
This form differs from the typical by the 
coloration being darker throughout. The pattern 
is more marked, and runs into zigzags and large 
blackish-brown spots. In certain individuals the 
brown color overruns nearly all the surface, not 
allowing sight of the white background, which 
takes the shape of little isolated spaces. 
emelliodina Duclos 1844. In: Chenu, Illus. 
Conchyl., pi. 21, figs. 19, 20. 
According to Ducros (1857) this is a peculiar 
form of the species. The figure of Duclos repre- 
sents a shell of small size, short, with a spire 
very little elongated when compared with most 
specimens. 
Oliva atalina Duclos 1835. Monogr. Oliva, pi. 
10, figs. 9, 10. 
Tryon (1883) stated that O. atalina Duclos 
and O. quersolina Duclos 1835 are discolored 
specimens of O. caerulea (Roding 1798). 
Tryon used the name O. episcopalis Lamarck. 
Ducros (1857), while agreeing that O. quer- 
solina is a discolored state of O. caerulea, was 
