11
I
I ; * I
i i
li
series before me larger, there would he little difficulty in showing
the specific identity.
The single specimen from Torres Straits is smaller than the type
in the Cumingian collection, and consists of nine whorls, three of
which form the smooth pinkish nucleus. The brown zone around
the middle of the body-whorl is uninterrupted, and passes up the
spire ju st aboA-e the suture, beneath which the whorls are also
stained with the same colour. The columella is smooth, Avith the
exception of one or tAA^o elongate tubercles at the upper p a r t ; and
the lahrum is armed within with about fifteen fine lira?, running far
within the aperture.
33. Phos senticosus, var.
Murex senticosus, Linn.
Var. = Phos muriculatus, Gould.
A+r. =Plios angulatus, Sowerhy.
Hal. AA+st Island, Prince of AVales Channel, Torres Straits
(Coppinger); Port Essington, 7 fms. (Jukes in Brit. Mus.).
The variety murimlatus cannot, I think, be distinguished from
the well-known P. senticosus, of which it has the aspect of being a
dwarfed form. The style of coloration is similar, and the dilference
in sculpture is very slight indeed, not sufficient to warrant, in my
opinion, a specific separation. In the British Museum I find a
series graduating from the short stumpy form of P. muriculatus to
the more graceful elongate outline of P. senticosus, the latter consisting
of eight whorls, exclusive of the smooth apex, and the former
of six, other specimens intermediate with regard to length having
seven. P. angulatus appears to offer very slight differences beyond
the absence iu a greater or less degree of colour.
34. Purpura hituhercularis, var.
Lamarck; Kiener, Coq. Viv. pi. xi. fig. 32; Reeve, Conch. Ic. fig 37 •
Küster, Conch.-Cah. pi. 31 a. figs. 3-8. ’
= Purpura kienerii, Deshayes, Anim. sans Vert. vol. x. p. 101.
Var.=Purpura undata, Reeve (? Lamarck), Conch. Icon. fig. 43.
Hah. Philippine Islands (Cuming); Port Essington (Jukes);
Arakan coast (Blanford); Pelew Islands (Dr. K in g ); Port Molle|
Queensland (Coppinger). ’
This species varies considerably in the length and development of
the tubercles. The two small specimens from Queensland have
them short and obtuse, as represented in fig. 3 of Küster. Some
other forms, which have been described under various names, may
eventually be considered conspecific with this : such are PAuteo-
stoma, Chemnitz, P. cdveolata, Eeeve, P. clavigera, Küster, and
perhaps P. hronni, Bunker. I cannot, however, agree Avith Tryon
th at P. liippocastanum should also be classed with this species. I
should here observe th a t the specimen figured by Eeeve as P. undata
of Lamarck is unquestionably a variety of this species (hituhercularis),
and appears to correspond with Kiener’s idea of the Lamarckian
shell (Coq. Viv. fob 34, f. 81) and also with the specimen figured by
Küster (Con.-Cab. pi. 23. f. 5). But whether all or none of these
figures delineate the true P. undata appears to me questionable.
However, I do not believe th at the AVest-Indian shell Avhich has
been assigned to it by d’Orbigny (Eamon de la Sagra’s Hist. Cuba,
vol. ii. p. 145) and those figured by Tryon (Man. Conch, f. 82, 100
103, and 109) can beyond a doubt be considered Lamarck’s species.
The dimensions he gives, namely 22 lines in length, exceed those
of the AVest-Indian examples; nor does the description of the colour,
“ albo et fusco-nigricante longitudinaliter undatimque picta, ’ apply
well to those shells, but admirably suits the specimens figured^ by
Küster, Eeeve, and Kiener. The locality, “ Monte Christi, AVest
Columbia,” given by Eeeve for his shell is no doubt erroneous, and
applies to two others on the same tablet, considered by Cuming tho
same species, but which on careful examination prove to be without
doubt examples of P. hisericdis, Blaiuville ( = P- hicostalis, Eeeve,
? of Lamarck). This species has a character not found in P. hituhercularis
and its varieties, namely the oblique plications on the
lower part of the columella ; and P. fascicda of Eeeve, which is also
conspecific with P. undata, d’Orb. (non Lamk.), and P. forbesii,
Bunker, also has on the columella a distinguishing character which
has not been noticed, viz. a small brown stain, most observable in
fresh specimens, a t the inferior end, and an oblique mark of the
same colour in a line Avith the raised ridge at the base of the body-
whorl.
35. Purpura (Cronia) amygdala.
Purpura amygdala, Kiener, Coq. Viv. p. 39, pi. 10. fig. 26 ; Chenu,
Man. de Conch, fig. 807.
Buccinum amygdala, Reeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 60.
Hah. Port Denison, 4 fms. (Coppinger); Home Islands, off Cape
Grenville, N.E. Australia, also Moreton Bay, Port Jackson, and
Port Darwin (Brazier).
The operculum of this species is normally Purpuroid, although
the basal channel of the aperture is unusually narrower than in the
genus.
36. Sistrum undatiim, var.
Ricinula fiscellum, Reeve (non Chemnitz), Conch. Icon. pi. 4. fig. 28.,
Hah. Port DarAvin (Coppinger) ; Port Essington (Jukes in Brit.,
Mus.).
This variety is also (juoted from tho north coast of Australia by
G. and H. Nevill (Jonru. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 1875, vol. xliv. pt. 2,
p. 83). I t difiers from the typical form of this well-known species
in its greater breadth, in having fewer aud larger nodose plications,
and in the fineness and closeness of the transverse squamose-
ridges.
(