DISTRIBUTION OF AUSTRALASIAN VOLUTES. 
9 
3. —VOLUTA NIYOSA— Lamarck, 
Formerly very abundant, but now rare. This shell, aptly named 
the snow flakes, from its white specks on a ground almost black, 
has a range from the Margaret River to the South, as far North as 
Shark’s Ray, but is found principally on the beach south of Free- 
mantle, and at Garden Island, in Gages Roads. It is often tuber- 
eulated. 
4.— VOLUTA NORRISII— Sowerry. 
Although found in Western Australia, properly should be con¬ 
sidered a North Australian Volute. After passing the North-west 
Cape it is found plentifully, and although two years ago, it was 
rarely met with, now it may be seen in every cabinet; and its 
pecuniary value is little. It affects weedy banks left dry by the 
tide, which has a fall and rise of even as much as thirty feet near 
Camden Harbour. Norrisii is very plentiful in the neighbourhood 
of Tion Tsin and the Flying Foam Passage. Mr. Thatcher, at my 
request, visited this portion of Australia, and he obtained many 
specimens of this species. The specimens from Camden Harbour 
are easily distinguished from the westward species, being of a light 
liver colour; the spots are large and more numerous. The animal 
varies in colour as the shell is dark or light ; the spots on the 
former are black, and on the latter white; it is the most voracious 
of the Volutes, and may be always seen crawling in search of 
food, or busy feeding. The portion of the animal only which fills 
the aperture has a pattern, the rest being of a uniform colour, 
identical with the ground colour of its shell. 
5.— VOLUTA MARIA-EMMA— Uray, 
Comes from the North-west of Australia, as stated by Mr. 
Gray, as there were over twenty boats working from Exmouth 
Gulf to near Camden Harbour, and the white crews are always 
on the look-out, and have had the distinguishing peculiarities of 
Volutes plainly pointed out to them, and not a specimen of it 
was obtained. If a naturalist were sent to the new settlement to 
the north of South Australia, the true habitat of many rare 
Australian Volutes might be accurately determined, as the coast 
as far as Camden Harbour to the North-West and the coast west¬ 
ward of the Gulf of Carpentaria have been well explored ; the rest 
of the tropical Volutes whose exact habitats are uncertain, are 
likely to be found in the space between, such asV. Sophia , V. 
Maria-emma , V. flavicans, and V. Tissotiana, which are more 
tropical in character than most of the Australian Volutes, and 
may be obtained in as great numbers as V. Norrisii and Eiliolti. 
