the posterior end. The margins are smooth and waved 
irregularly; in fact, the mouth, if one may be permitted 
to speak of a bivalve possessing a mouth, is almost invari- 
ably crooked. Both of these species—V. reflexa and V. 
siliqua—are remarkably deformed, the deformity being due 
to the creatures being huddled together in rock cavities. 
They are both met with on the ocean beach at the Mount, 
being sometimes washed ashore after gales, together with 
quantities of coarse pumice sand. As the pumice rock is 
always submerged, even at the lowest tides, live specimens 
are not to be expected in this locality; still, some good 
ones are to be found occasionally. In Auckland Harbour, 
at Narrow Neck, they may be obtained in their natural 
haunts in the soft, consolidated mud rocks when the tide 
is out. 
Manukau Harbour; Hauraki Gulf; Mount Maunganui; 
Gisborne. 
Note.—The difference between the Venerupic reflexa 
and the V. siliqua is merely a matter of degree. As for 
the escutcheon, in no species of bivalve mollusc is it marked 
off so definitely as the lunule is, and one is often at a loss 
to decide whether it is present or not. The fact of it 
occurring on one valve only, makes one suspicious. I have 
since learned that Mr. R. W. B. Oliver, in the Proc. Mal. 
Soc., Vol. XV., March, 1923, has identified and united the 
two under the name V. reflexa. In the plate, a figure is 
given of each, a good example of the extreme forms we 
sometimes meet with in one species. 
PROTOCARDIA PULCHELLA (Proteus, a marine 
deity; kardia, the heart; pulchella, beautiful).—A delicate 
little bivalve shaped like a cockle, with a thin, fragile shell, 
the anterior end being roundly curved and the posterior end 
slightly straight. Sculptured with very fine, numerous rib- 
lets, radiating from the beaks. They are coloured a bright 
coral pink, shading off to white close to the hinge. Three- 
quarters of the shell are coloured pink; then there is a 
sharply marked-off portion of white, which gives place to 
pink again at the posterior end. The margin is finely ser- 
rated, the tiny little teeth corresponding to the ends of the 
ribs. The interior is white and glossy, especially towards 
the ventral margin; the dorsal half, approaching the hinge, 
being a deep pink, the colour arranged in three radiating 
bands or patches. This beautiful little shell, which is about 
three-quarters of an inch across, is to be found washed up 
on sandy beaches. It should be noticed that the. ligament 
of this species, like that of the Divaricella Cumingi, or Lace 
shell, which holds the valves together, is so delicate that 
109 
Plate XI 
No.8 
Sea Shells 
of New Zealand 
