‘ 
colouring and iridescence is present in all except the older 
shells, which have a tendency to become milky. They may 
attain a length of close upon two and a-half inches and a 
height of nearly an inch and a-half, but these are excep- 
tionally large specimens; one of about a couple of inches 
in length is a very fair size. They are usually found fairly 
high up between tide marks. 
Mount Maunganui; East Cape; Cook Strait; Dunedin; 
Chatham Islands. 
HELCIONISCUS ORNATUS (helcion, a breast collar; 
ornatus, ornate).—Rather a beautiful limpet, about an 
inch and a quarter in length, the shell having conspicuous 
granules, white and black, on the intermediate ribs. The 
larger ribs are about eleven in number, and the apex is 
situated at the front third, or perhaps rather nearer to the 
front margin. The interior is silvery and dark brown, 
with eleven radiating silver streaks in a coffee-brown 
border. The central area is of a blackish brown, merging 
to cream colour in the depth of the apex. 
Throughout New Zealand; Mount Maunganui. 
HELCIONISCUS ORNATUS var. INCONSPICUUS.— 
This limpet differs from the species in the absence of the 
black and white dots on the intermediate ribs externally, 
and in the height of the shell being equal to more than half 
the length. Inside, the colour is a lighter brown, and the sil- 
very bars are more numerous. In many specimens the silver 
may be in broad bars, with pairs of narrow brown bars dis- 
posed at intervals round the margin, or the silver and 
brown may be more equally distributed. It is a common 
shell, and is to be found always with the species. Mount 
Maunganui, 
When one is thoroughly acquainted with this sub-species 
or variety, and the species, noting their situation on the 
rocks, and the aspect of the rocks, whether exposed to 
heavy seas or not, the size and marking of the shells, inside 
as well as out, together with all the intermediate grades, 
there will be no hesitation in arriving at the conclusion, 
now generally accepted, that the H. ornatus var. incon- 
spicuus is an aged form of the H. ornatus. 
HELCIONISCUS RADIANS (helcion, a breast collar; 
radians, having rays).—A limpet, oval in shape, somewhat 
flattened or depressed, thin, slightly narrower in front than 
behind, with about twenty-five well-marked radiate ribs 
extending from the apex to the margin, with one or two 
15 
Plate II 
No.8 
Plate IT 
No. 9 
Plate II 
No. 2-2a. 
Sea Shells 
of New Zealand 
