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

MOLLUSCA. 49325. ColumlDella nympha, Kiener.Providence Reef, Masearenes, 24 frns.26. Columbella seychellensis. (Plate XLIV. fig. G.)Shell small, narrow, ovate-fusiform, opaque white, irregularlyblotched with brown. Whorls 9, three apical smooth, concave ;the rest only very slightly concave, separated by a linear suture,above which revolves a white line dotted with brown, which alsopasses round the middle of the last whorl ; this is not much contractedat the lower part, around which there are about half-adozenoblique grooves. The aperture is long and narrow, togetherwith the oblique basal canal occiqjying rather less than the wholelength of the shell. The outer lip is thickened externally by abroadish white varix. The columella is nearly perpendicular at themiddle, and covered with a thin callosity. Length 8 millim.,greatest width 3.Sej'chelle Islands, 4-12 fms.This curious little species is somewhat chrj-saloid in form. Theoutlines of the spire are just a little concave below the apex, andgradually become slightly convex lower down. The outer lip in thesingle specimen at hand is smooth within, having been inhabited bya minute Pagurus ; but it is very probable that fine lirae wiU be metwith in other specimens.27. Columbella moleculina.Dticlos, Monogr. Columbc4la, pi. 9. figs. 1 & 2 ; id. in ChemCs Illustr.Conch, pi. 9. figs. 1 & 2.Etoile Island, Amirantes, 13 fms. {Oojjpinger) • Marquesas(Pease, in Brit. Miis.) ; Malvcira Harbour, San Christoval, SolomonIslands (J. Brazier, in Brit. Mus.).This species, although characteristically figured in the above unfinishedmonographs, has not, I believe, been as yet described. Itis small, ovately fusiform, glossy, white, covered with a network orconnected circles of a yellowish-brown colour, varied with twointerrupted dark-brown transverse lines, one at the upper part ofthe whorls a little below the suture, where the ground-colour is attimes opaque snowy white, and the other, consisting of less elongatespots, round the base of the body-whorl. Volutions 8, smooth,three apical convex, the rest nearly flat at the sides, very fiiintlygradated ; the last rounded at the middle, contracted beneath, andstrongly transversely grooved at the extremity. Aperture small, contractedinto a short oblique canal in front. Outer lip strengthenedwith a remarkably broad external varix, distinctly sinuated a littlebelow the suture and armed within with six small denticles, ofwhich the second and third below the sinus are usually the largest.Columella covered with a callus bearing throe or four elongatetransverse tubercles at the lower part. Length 6 millim., width 2^.