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Show 598 MR. E. A. S M I T H O N S H E L L S [June 2, columella is a trifle lower down, the columella itself is pale and marked off from the rest of the whorl by a red curved line, and the aperture is less produced or pouting along the lower margin. 30. HARGRAVESIA POLITA, H. Adams, var. Hab. Faro Island, Bougainville Straits ; " in the higher parts of the island up to the summit, 1900 feet above the sea" (Guppy). It is not stated by Adams (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1870, p. 795) from which island of the Solomon group the types were obtained. In all probability they were not from Faro, as the specimen from this locality varies somewhat in form, having a more conical spire, less convex whorls, and the aperture less produced laterally. Should these differences prove constant in a iarge series of specimens, I should be inclined to consider this form specifically distinct. Hyajopsis tumida, Pease (Amer. Journ. Conch, vii. p. 27)> is the same as the present species. 31. HELICINA MOOUINIANA, Recluz. Hab. " The island of Ugi, living in a region of coral-limestone at an elevation varying between 300 and 400 feet above the sea" (Guppy). San Christoval and Guadalcanal* Islands (Macgillivray, in Brit. Mus.). This species appears to vary in size, colour, the coarseness of the spiral striae, in the acuteness of the central keel, and in the greater or less development of the dentiform projection at the base of the columella. I have no hesitation in pronouncing H. spinifera to be a very slight variation, and indeed H. egregia might almost be regarded in the same light. 32. HELICINA EGREGIA, Pfeiffer. (Plate XXXVI. figs. 10, 10 a.) Hab. " From the coral-limestone region of the east island of the Florida group, on leaves" (Guppy). The unique type of this species was collected by Macgillivray on the island of Guadalcanar, which is situated just to the south of Florida Island. The operculum is thin, and coloured precisely like that of H. moquiniana, Recluz, and its variety H. spinifera, Pfeiffer, all three being of a dark sanguineous red with the exception of the columellar margin, which is whitish. This species is not keeled at the middle like the two above-named forms, and is more finely striated, and consequently has a smoother surface. The three specimens collected by Mr. Guppy are all differently coloured. One is exactly like the type (see fig. 272 in Sowerby's Monograph, Thesaur. Conch, vol. iii., and Conch. Icon. vol. xix. fig. 159) ; another lacks the broad zone on the upper surface ; and the third is uniformly light purplish-red, the peristome and aperture being of a more decided red tint. 33. HELICINA MODESTA, Pfeiffer. Hab. Choiseul Bay, Shortland Island, and an islet in Treasury Harbour, Bougainville Straits (Guppy); Guadalcanar Island (Macgillivray, in British Museum). |