| OCR Text |
Show 1887.] MOLLUSKS OF THE VITI ISLANDS. 289 10. MELAMPUS CREBRISTRIATUS, sp. nov. Shell imperforate, solid, obovate, slightly shining, striated with lines of growth and marked by rather crowded transverse incised lines ; colour dark chestnut-brown or fulvous, with or without two light chestnut bands ; spire mucronate, convexly conoid; suture distinct, linear ; whorls 7-8, subplanulate, the last one subangulate on the shoulder ; the lower portion of the parietal region with two subcontiguous folds, the lower one small, and occasionally there exists small posterior denticles; palate with from 10-18 "whitish laminae on a layer of whitish callus; peristome and columella fulvous. Length 10-13, diam. 6-7 millim. A few examples found near high-water mark on the north coast of Vanua Levu. 11. MELAMPUS RUSTICUS, sp. nov. Shell small, imperforate, obovate, finely striated, brown, with irregular longitudinal fulvous stripes and small spots ; spire short, conoid, apex eroded, truncate ; whorls 4 remaining, last one sub-angulated, obliquely striated at the base ; aperture elongate, narrow, slightly oblique, violaceous or brown, base rounded ; parietal region with an acute horizontal lamina just below the middle ; columellar fold sharp, oblique, and continuous with the acute peristome; palate with 4-6 faint laminae. Length 7, diam. 5 millim. Rather common on the margins of mangrove-swamps. I also found it in the Tonga and Samoa Islands. It is the same shape as, but smaller than, M. semisulcatus, with which it is found associated. It is also darker coloured, and differs from the latter in the absence of spiral sulcations and in having only one parietal fold. 12. MELAMPUS INCISUS, sp. nov. Shell imperforate, obconic, solid, marked by fine incremental striae and spiral incised lines, which are sometimes evanescent on the middle of the body-whorl ; colour brown or luteous, with or without four transverse'chestnut bands, and frequently with irregular longitudinal more or less interrupted fulvous lines and dots; spire short, conoid, apex eroded, truncate; whorls 5 remaining, last one subangulated above ; suture linearly impressed and slightly lacerated; aperture somewhat oblique, elongate, violaceous brown; parietal region with two contiguous folds just above the columellar plait, the upper one the larger, above which are from two to six more or less distinct denticles ; palate with five to fourteen white irregular laminae ; columellar fold oblique, continuous with the peristome. Length 8-10 millim. Not infrequent on the margins of mangrove-swamps in Vanua Levu. |
