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Show 358 DR. J. C. COX ON NEW AUSTRALIAN SHELLS. [May 13, 8. On three new Species of Australian Marine Shells. B y J A M E S C. C O X , M.D., Sydney, N e w South Wales. (Plate XXVI.) CYPRAEA THATCHERT, n. sp. (Plate XXVI. figs. 1, la.) Shell pyriformly ovate, rather thin, markedly ventricose, base almost flat; sides steep, deeply notched; anterior end contracted and prominent; posterior end produced, narrow; aperture almost straight, except in front, rather open ; teeth thick, obtuse, faint purplish white, about twenty-four on the outer edge, and confined to the margin of the aperture; on the columellar side the teeth are short, oval, blunt, and larger, becoming almost obsolete in front; cream-coloured with a cinnamon tinge, smooth and polished, variegated with rather large orange-brown spots of irregular size and irregularly distributed ; the cinnamon tinge is slightly deeper at the ends; base white and perfectly smooth, sides light; extremities rather recurved ; interior pinkish white. Length 3 inches, breadth lyjj, height 1-j-}?. Hab. Dampier's Archipelago, West coast of Australia. The two specimens of this beautiful species now before me, one of which I send to be figured, were obtained by Mr. C. R. Thatcher, from a fisherman who took them at the locality above recorded, about ten years ago; and, so far as I know, no other specimens have yet been found. The two specimens are exactly alike in every wav, and in a fine state of preservation. The surface of the shell is uniformly covered with a smooth shining enamel, showing no trace of a dorsal opening. VOLUTA HARFORDI. (Plate XXVI. figs. 2a, 2b.) Shell elongated, ovate, thick; spire acuminate, short, apex papillary ; whorls smooth, slanting, strongly excavated or channelled at the suture; columella four-plaited, pinkish white; aperture elongated, lip simple; pinkish white, shining, longitudinally striated by fine waved brown lines, ornamented by four bands of squarely elongated orange-brown spots on the body-whorl, and by a band of round spots of the same colour about the centre of the shell, between the upper and lower rows of squarely elongated markings. Length 1 ^ inch, breadth 4^, height -fy. Hab. Wreck Reef, near Lady Elliott's Island. This species in general aspect much resembles Voluta maculata oi Swainson, but is at once distinguished from that or any other species by its channelled or excavated suture, elongated striation, and regular squarely elongated orange-brown markings. VOLUTA SCLATERI. (Plate XXVI. fig. 3.) Shell pyriformly oblong, ponderous; spire rather short, obtuse, papillary ; whorls smooth, porcellanous, the last tending to be angled or protuberant round the upper part; columella strongly five- |
