MOLLUSCA.—HEDLEY. ; 59 
NEOBUCCINUM EATONI Smith. 
(Plate IX., fig. 97.) 
Buceinopsis eatont Smith, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), xvi., 1875, p. 68. 
Neobuccinum eatont Smith, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., clxviii., 1879 (1877), p. 169, pl. ix., 
figs. 1, 14; Jd., Studer, Archiv. Naturg., xlv., 1879, p. 129; Jd., Watson, 
Chall. Rep. Zool., xv., 1886, p. 216; Jd., Smith, Coll. “Southern Cross,” 
Moll., 1902, p. 202; IJd., Thiele, Deutsch. Tiefsee Exped., vi., 1903, p. 168, 
pl. ix., fig. 57; Id., Lamy, lst Expéd. Antarct. Franc., 1906, Moll., p.2; Jd., 
Smith, Nat. Antarct. Exped., ii., 1907, Moll., p. 1; Melvill and Standen, 
Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., xlvi., 1907, p. 139 ; Id., Scotia Zool., v., 1907, p. 109 ; 
Id., Wilton, Zool. Log. Scotia, 1908, p. 28, pl. xxiv., fig. 74; Id., Lamy, Bull. 
Mus. Hist. Nat., xvi., 1910, p. 199; Jd., Lamy, 2nd Expéd. Antarct. Frang., 
1911, Moll., p.5; Jd., Lamy, Ann. Inst. Oceanograph., iii., fasc. 3, 1911, p. 41 ; 
Id., Hedley, Brit. Antarct. Exped., ii., 1911, p. 6, pl. i., figs. 11,12 ; Id., Thiele, 
Deutsch. Siidpol. Exped., xiii., 1912, p. 211 ; Zd., Smith, “ Terra Nova ” Exped., 
i, 1915, Moll., p. 72; Jd., Lamy, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat., xxi., 1915, p. 69. 
Neobuccinum preclarum Strebel, Schwed. Siidpol. Exped., vi., 1908, p. 31, pl. u1., fig. 38. 
Originally discovered at Kerguelen, this whelk is rarely missing from any Antarctic 
station, and seems to be abundant over a wide range in space and depth. Whether 
alive or dead the shell is almost invariably eroded. Only one of the Mawson collection 
preserved the natural surface. This, a half-grown and empty shell, from 60 fathoms, 
off Drygalski Island, has a thin straw-coloured epidermis, produced in fine spiral lines, 
about 30 to a whorl, of delicate, short, erect bristles. Radially, fine wrinkles connect 
_ the spirals (pl. ix., fig. 97). These bristle rows of the epidermis appear to have a specific 
_ and even generic importance. 
From off Graham Land, Dr. H. Strebel has figured and described Neobuccinum 
preclarum, distinguished by the spiral lines of the epidermis from the reputedly smooth 
N. eatoni. It is now suggested that, as N. eatont when perfect also possesses these 
spirals, N. praclarum must lapse. 
Dr. Boog Watson, comparing Ohlanidota * with the prior Neobuccinum, remarks 
that ‘“‘the epidermis is curiously caducous,” and considers that the bristle rows of 
Chlanidota alone distinguish that from Neobuccinum. Since Neobuccinum actually 
possesses this feature, Watson’s conclusion that Chlanidota should be suppressed gains 
confirmation. 
Several egg capsules, like those I have figured in the Shackleton report, were dredged 
with N. eatoni, on October 4th, 1912, in 25 fathoms, Commonwealth Bay. A dead 
and broken shell from 300 fathoms, off the Mertz Glacier Tongue, Adelie Land, is 70mm. 
in length, and if complete, would have reached at least 80mm, Besides these, the 
* Chlanidota von Martens, Sitz. Ges. Naturf. Berlin, 1878, p. 23. The citation in the Zool. Record, 1877, Moll., p. 31, 
appears to establish priority for Neobuccinum, ostensibly published in 1879. 
