NERITA MELANOTRAGUS (Nerites, a sea nymph; 
melas, black; tragus, a portion of the ear).—A thick, 
solidly-built univalve of an intense ebony black, with fine 
grooves or striations winding spirally down the shell. It 
has a remarkably flat spire, forming only a small portion 
of the whole structure. The aperture is D-shaped, and 
has two or three small teeth on the middle of the inner lip. 
The outer lip is bordered internally with a strip of black, 
while next to it is a thick band of white callus. The oper- 
culum is shelly, almost transparent, like amber on the outer 
surface, ornamented with two bands of purple and studded 
with minute eminences. There is also a process jutting 
out from the inner side which fits round the toothed col- 
umellar lip; so that, when the animal retires into its shell, 
it is fairly safe from the attentions of its numerous flesh- 
eating neighbours, always on the qui vive for a good meal. 
It is found between tide marks upon rocks, and attains a 
length of one and a-quarter inches. The animal is much 
esteemed by some people as an article of food, and is said 
to resemble the English periwinkle in flavour. 
Found in the North Island. Mount Maunganui. 
LITORINA CINCTA (litorina, inhabiting the  sea- 
shore; cincta, belted or girdled).—This is a small peri- 
winkle, a trifle over half an inch in length, found on rocks, 
in crevices or sheltered parts, usually in association with 
the small black mussel, and rather near to high-water 
mark. It is of a brown colour, with yellowish-white 
grooves winding spirally round the whorls, the sculpture 
being most indistinct. The columella is deep violet, and 
the interior of a still deeper shade, with short stripes of 
yellow on the inner margin of the outer lip, and a broad 
patch at the lower border of the aperture. The mouth is 
more or less rounded below, and above is slightly angled. 
Throughout New Zealand, more common in the South. 
Mount Maunganui. 
LITORINA MAURITIANA (litorina, inhabiting the 
seashore; Mauritiana, from the Island of Mauritius).— 
This is also a species of periwinkle, about three-eighths of 
an inch in height, found on rocks at, and above high-water 
mark, and, although furnished only with gills, is to a 
certain extent amphibious. The shell, which is a spiral 
univalve, is coloured a pale bluish white, with a broad band 
of a beautiful bright blue, spirally winding round the body 
whorl, like the blue ribbon of the distinguished order of 
the Garter. The interior is white. Like all the peri- 
winkles, this creature is a vegetarian. 
37 
Plate III 
No. 18 
Plate VII 
No. 23 
Plate VII 
No. 22 
Sea Shells 
of New Zealand 
