Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean ...

MOLLUSCA. 69Hood's Island (i?^t7»r) ; Oomaga Reef {Juices) ; Mauritius (J/fl7-«(?/is) ;Home Islands, off Cape Greuville, N.E. Australia, and DarnleyIsland, Torres Straits (Brazier).With this species If. cidaris and N. petitiana have very closerelationship, and, indeed, at present I cannot appreciate their pointsof distinction.81. Nerita chrysostoma.Recluz ; Reeve, Conch. Icon. pi. iv. figs. 18 a, b.Hab. Friday and Thursday Islands, Torres Straits, and EndeavourStraits, N. Australia {Coiypinger) ; Philippine Islands {Cuming).\yith this species should probably be united N, Le guillouana,N. savieana, N. longti, N. aurantia (all of Recluz), and N. funiculata,Reeve.82. Nerita melanotragns.Nerita atrata, Reeve {nun Chemnitz), Conch. Icon. figs. \Qn,b; Hrdton,Mamial 3Ioll. New Zealand, p. 89 ; Anr/as, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865,p. 175 ; op. cif. 1867, p. 212.Nerita nigra {Quoy Sf Gaimard), Graij^ DieffenhacNs New Zealand,vol. ii. p. 240.Hah. New Zealand, common in the north, not found south ofWellington (Ifutfon) ; Australia and Tasmania {Hutton) ; PortJackson {Coppinger, Angus., Sfc); Norfolk Island {BrencJiJeg)',Raoul or Sunday Island, Kermadec Islands {McccGiUivray, Voy.of H.M.S. Herald '')•I am inclined with Deshayes * and Martens f to consider the shellfigured by Reeve not the N. atrata of Chemnitz. That authordescribes both lips as white, whereas the species figured by Reevehas the outer lip remarkably margined with black. Besides, thelocalities quoted in the Conchylicn-Cabinet,' namely the coast of'Guinea and the West Indies, do not support Reeve's identification.It is not, however, improbable that the Nerita mentioned byChemnitz in the concluding paragraph of his description ma}- havebeen the N. atrata of Reeve, for he states it to have been boug htfrom the South Seas by one of the expeditions under Captain Cook.I cannot find any species described by Quoy and Gaimard underthe name N. nigra quoted by Gray in Dicffenbach's work, althoughthey figure the animal only of a Nerite noirdtre in the Voyage de'I'Uranie et la Physicienne.' The shell of that species they do notdescribe, on account of its bad condition. The N. punctata, Q. & G.,from the Mauritius is placed as a synonym of the present speciesby Mr. Angas (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, p. 175); but that species Iconsider perfectly distinct, being probably the same as the N. nigerrimaof Chemnitz as figured by Reeve, which varies to a considerableextent in the amount of white dotting. Tlie spire of N. punctatais described as "fojii'f.ra, prominenti."' The aperture is said to be* Anim. sans Vprtcbre.'