concentric striations. There are five or six radiate bands 
of pinkish-fawn colour extending from the beaks to the 
ventral border. The margins are smooth, and the valves 
fit closely all round. It is about an inch and a half long 
by one inch high. It is quite a rare shell. 
Bay of Islands; Hauraki Gulf; Great Barrier Island; 
Wellington; Queen Charlotte Sound; Stewart Island. 
CYTHEREA OBLONGA (Cytherea, a name of Venus; 
oblong).—A cockle-shaped bivalve, moderately large, of a 
brown or yellowish-brown colour, thick in the middle, and 
sculptured with concentric, thin, sharp, upstanding lamelle. 
The beaks are well sculptured in the same fashion, con- 
trary to the usual rule, where the beaks are either smooth 
or the sculpture is in such low relief as to be almost a 
negligible quality. The anterior end is semicircular, like 
the posterior end, but forms a considerably smaller arc. 
The ventral margin is regularly rounded; the interior 
smooth and white, with the inner margins finely toothed. 
It is about two and a-quarter inches in length, and may be 
found buried in a few inches of sand, usually in boulder- 
strewn localities. 
Throughout New Zealand. Mount Maunganui; Chat- 
ham Islands. 
CHIONE SPISSA (Chione, the daughter of Boreas; 
spissa, thick),—This shell was formerly described under 
two names, as if representing two distinct species—namely, 
Chione crassa and Chione mesodesma,—and my former 
suspicions of their identity have been since confirmed by 
reading Iredale’s paper, where he quotes E. A, Smith, 
I.S.0., of London, the greatest British authority on bivalve 
molluscs, as stating that “he is still unable to separate this 
species (Chione crassa) from C. mesodesma . . . which 
Suter has maintained as a distinct species.” The main 
features of the species are, briefly: its cockle-like shape, 
its size, which is approximately an inch in length, its mode 
of sculpture, which takes the form of concentric ribs closely 
set together, with the sharp upper edges tilted upwards 
towards the beaks, and the colour, which varies so much 
that there is little room for surprise that the species has 
proved rather puzzling to describe. It ranges from a plain 
light nut brown to plain pale grey, and between these two 
extremes are many variations. Brown with two radiating 
white bars on each valve; white with brown bars, broad 
or narrow in either case; brown zigzag patterns, combined, 
or not, with bars brown or white, broad or narrow, scarcely 
two alike. One point emphasized by the separatists was 
105 
Plate XI 
No. 1 
Plate IX 
No.5 
Sea Shells 
of New Zealand 
