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Show 268 MR. E. A. SMITH ON THE MOLLUSCA [May 6, NEW HEBRIDES. The seven species of shells from these islands were all collected at the small island of Api, which «' lies south of Amboyna and Mati-colo and between these islands and Efate or Sandwich Island, and which, according to Moseley, "had certainly never been landed upon before by any scientific man or naval officer " until the visit of the ' Challenger.' It is not surprising, therefore, that of the few species brought home four are apparently new, although it is with some reluctance that I name forms so variable aud puzzling as the Melaniae of the South-Sea Islands. 1. HELICINA SUBL^EVIGATA, Pfeiffer. Helicina sublavigata, Pfeiffer, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853, p. 87 ; Monog. Pneumon. p. 384 ; Sowerby, Thes. Conch, vol. iii. p. 290, pi. 275. figs. 339 & 340 ; Conch. Icon. vol. xix. pi. 29. figs. 265 a, b. The seven specimens from Api are all much smaller than the types described by Pfeiffer, and belong to the unhanded variety, one of them being'of a pinkish-red tinge and the rest yellower. A feature worth noticing, and which has hitherto been overlooked, is the peculiarity of the apex of the spire. The first whorl is convex and smooth, and abruptly defined from the next, which is sculptured at its commencement with three or four strong spiral ridges, which, however, soon disappear. The figures in the ' Thesaurus' are somewhat enlarged, but give a very fair notion of the form, those in the ' Conchologica Iconica,' on the contrary, being too depressed and too acute at the periphery. Sowerby, in his description in the latter work, characterizes the lip as red which is very unusual; for out of a dozen shells with perfect lips all have them white at the margin with one exception, in which it is orange like the rest of the aperture. 2. PYTHIA SCARAB^EUS, Linn. Hab. Api, N e w Hebrides. The largest of the specimens from this locality are about 25 millim. in length. Thev might with equal propriety be named P. ovatus, Pfeiffer, P. savaiensis, Mousson, or P. regularis, Gassies, which 1 regard in the light of mere varieties. As in the case with the examples from the K e Islands previously referred to, so also among those from Api, many are found with the umbilicus quite closed and others with it partially open, the former probably being identical with P. tortuosa, Mousson. Dr. Cox (Proc. Linn. Soc. New b. Wales, vol. vi. p. 621) has also recorded that some specimens ot P. verreauxi " are absolutely imperforate, whilst others are openly umbilicated." 3. PYTHIA APIENSIS. (Plate XXII. figs. 10, \0 a.) Shell small, ovate, pyramidal, either narrowly perforate or imperforate, livid brownish, with the back of the body-whorl dirty yellowish, irregularly spotted with brownish black, or uniformly |