giving the shell a very pretty effect. One that we found 
at Mount Maunganui is five-eighths of an inch in height, 
a fine specimen, comparing it with the one recorded from 
the Bay of Islands, which is a quarter of an inch shorter. 
It has been found in the Hauraki Gulf, and also at the 
South Sea Islands; Japan; Mauritius; South Africa; Aus- 
tralia and Tasmania; a mollusc partial to warm seas. 
BULLARIA AUSTRALIS (bulla, a bubble; Australis, 
southern).—An oval cylindrical univalve of apparently one 
whorl, smooth, and shining, with a mouth extending higher 
than the spire; the term “spire” might almost be regarded 
as a misnomer, as it does not exist, at least not to the naked 
eye; its place is indicated by a sunken depression, with a 
hole or umbilicus in the centre. Of course, there must be 
whorls, for one finds shells of a quarter of an inch, ranging 
up to specimens of an inch and a-half in length; but the 
growing animal constructs its new premises round the 
older and smaller ones, all on the same plane, a procedure 
which can be at once understood by breaking open a few 
different-sized shells and comparing the number of turns 
or whorls in each one. The mouth is widely open below, 
the lower portion of the outer lip being broadly rounded; 
the upper portion narrowly rounded. The colour is of a 
vague greyish-yellowish hue, marbled with light brown, 
with one or two darker bands transversely arranged, which, 
however, may not be present. The sculpture consists 
of very minute microscopic spiral striations, only to 
be seen in good specimens, and about ten equally-spaced 
spiral striations round the base from the outer to the inner 
lip. Growth lines are also to be seen. 
Found in the North Island. Bay of Islands; Howick; 
Auckland. 
HAMINEA ZELANDLE (hamus, a hook; N.Z.)— 
An exceedingly thin, white or greyish-white horny uni- 
valve, aptly known as the Bubble shell, or Glass shell, 
covered in the recent state with a thin yellowish periostra- 
cum. It is fairly plentiful on some harbour beaches, and 
is found on the Sea wrack. When the periostracum 1s 
worn off, as it usually is when the shell is washed up on 
the beach, the clear glassy appearance of the Haminea has 
a striking resemblance to a bubble of water. The animal 
is a very soft jelly-like creature of a dark slaty-grey colour, 
and has a mantle which almost entirely invests the shell. 
Not a common species. 
Bay of Islands; Howick; Hauraki Gulf; Mount Mau- 
nganui; Pelorus Sound. 
79 
Plate III 
No. 19 
Plate VI 
No. 25 
Sea Shells 
of New Zealand 
