Art. XL.—Descriptions of new Marine Shells.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 12, 1879, Page 306

Art. XL.—Descriptions of new Marine Shells. By T. W. Kirk, Assistant in the Colonial Museum. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 21st February, 1880.] Dentalium huttoni. Shell white, lustrous; small, curved, rapidly tapering, ribbed, ribs unequal, about eighteen at the anterior end, but diminishing in number towards the apex. Length, ·63 inch; breadth, ·1 at anterior end. Three specimens from the stomach of a trumpeter (Latris hecateia). Named after Professor Hutton, to whose exertions students of Conchology in this country are so greatly indebted. Dentalium ecostatum.

Shell white; nearly straight, smooth, gradually tapering; faintly, distantly, transversely striated. Length, ·6 inch; breadth, ·07 at anterior end. Waikanae. Dentalium, sp. A broken shell, in the collection of Mr. Herbert, Wellington, would appear to add a fifth species of Dentalium to our “List;” but as only about half the specimen remains, and that the apical portion, its identification is somewhat difficult. The shell is white, ribbed, ribs equal, about nineteen in number. Island Bay, Wellington. Scalaria wellingtonensis. Shell white, lustrous; acuminate, imperforate; whorls nine, rounded; varices numerous, thin, about seventeen on the body-whorl; interstices smooth; aperture sub-rotund. Length, ·4 inch. Wellington. Cylichna zealandica. Shell white; strong, smooth, faintly longitudinally striated. Aperture produced above the spire. Length, ·35 inch. Waikanae.