Sea Shells 
of New Zealand 
Plate VIII 
No. 13 
Plate VI 
No, 23-23a. 
PHASIANELLA HUTTONI (phasianella, dim. of phasi- 
anus, a pheasant; Hutton, the conchologist).—The shell of 
this species is a perfect little gem, though Hutton’s laconic 
description of it as “smooth, red, generally with oblique 
white rays,” gives but scanty idea of its wonderful beauty, 
The Pheasant shells are all richly coloured and occur in 
many parts of the world; the Australian species being 
particularly fine, both in colour and size, but our solitary 
native species is the most beautiful of all. It is an elon- 
gated narrow spiral of about a quarter of an inch in length, 
of a deep rose or ruby colour, highly polished, almost trans- 
parent, and usually adorned with short half-moon splashes 
of white, hanging down, as it were, from the suture. The 
mouth is rounded below, and there is no canal. On m 
first acquaintance with this species, I could not help think- 
ing of the quaint remark of that pious old gourmet, Dr. 
Boteler, in the XVII. century, who, referring to the straw- 
berry, said: “Doubtless God could have made a better 
berry, but doubtless God never did.” 
Takapuna Beach; Taupo Beach, Whangarei; Bay of 
Islands; Mount Maunganui. 
ETHALIA ZELANDICA (4thalia, the Island of Elba; 
Zelandica, New Zealand),—A smooth and rather thin, 
flattened univalve of about one inch in diameter, more often 
less. It varies much in colour, from a purplish tint to 
bronzy browns, yellows and pink, with small darker rays 
of a similar hue. The body whorl is rounded on the out- 
side edge, and the under surface shows a pad of callus 
round the umbilicus, which is white in the lighter pinkish 
shells. Juveniles, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, 
show the rays distinctly marked like the spokes of a wheel, 
which accounts for one of the synonyms—Rotella, Latin 
for a wheel. It inhabits the laminarian zone, or the sea- 
weed belt, extending downwards from low-water mark, 
but my friend, Mr. A. W. B. Powell, of Auckland, has 
recorded enormous numbers of the live molluscs at Marsden 
Point, being met with in the litoral zone, i.e., between tide 
marks, when he was privileged to observe their active 
habits and mode of progression—a unique occurrence. 
(N.Z, Jour. Se. Tech., 25/8/21). 
Although myriads of these shells are washed ashore 
on sandy beaches by almost every tide, I have only found 
a single live specimen in the litoral zone. They may be 
dredged in a few fathoms of water. 
Throughout New Zealand. Kawhia; Mount Maunga- 
nui; Spirits Bay. 
36 
