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

•:42 COLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA.but the spiral lir?e are normal in this respect. The measurementsare:-—Type : length lOg millim., diameter 3.Var. from Port Curtis : length 12|, diam. 4.11. Murex tenuispira.Lamarch; Kilsfer, Con.-Cab. p. 27, pi. 11. fig. 3, and pi. 20. fig. 3;Reeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 85; Kiener, pi. 7. fig. 1; Soioerby, Gen. Rec.Foss. Shells, pi. 225. fig. 2 ; Thes. Conch, pi. 380. fig. 7.8fHab. Torres Straits, 7-10 fms. {Coppinger) ; Darnley Islands,Torres Straits, 20-30 fms. (Brazier) ; Amboina (Qiioy df Gaimard);Moluccas (Kiener).12. Murex coppingeri. (Plate V. fig. A.)Shell clavately fusiform, whitish, indistinctly banded with palebrown. Whorls 9-9|, three apical smooth, slightly convex, glassy ;the rest angulated near the middle, sloping above, somewhat contractedbelow at the suture, trivaricose, bicostate between the varicesthe latter have a single upturned spine arising at the angle, whichis marked by a prominent ridge. The ribs are rather obsoleteabove the angle, and a trifle oblique below it. The slope of thewhorls is traversed by about four thread-like lirse, which are moststrongly developed upon the upper part of the varices. The lowerpart of the whorls is ornamented with a few similar lirte. Thethree varices on the last whorl bear eight principal spines : ofthese the uppermost is longest and stoutest ; three rest upon thelabrum, and five upon the right side of the canal. In addition tothese are four or five secondary or smaller intermediary spines onthe outer lip, and a small erect one between each of tliose ujjon thecanal. The body-whorl is transversely Krato throughout, the lirsebeing unequal, the larger running parallel with the larger spines,which are somewhat acutely ridged behind and of a brownish tint.The aperture is white, exhibiting traces of three pale brownishzones. The outer lip is thin at the edge and denticulated. Thecanal is straight, curving a little to the right near the tip. Length58 millim. ; aperture and canal 41 long.Hah. Arafura Sea, Dundas Straits, 17 fms.This may prove eventually a remarkable variety of M. 7iigrispinosaof Ileeve, the only species it is likely to be confounded with.That species, although attaining a larger size, consists of only eightwhorls, whilst in M. coppingeri I count nine and a half. Thenucleus of the latter consists of two and a half, which are a littleconvex, together forming a Idunt-topped cone. In the formerspecies there are two nuclear volutions very convex, forming a globoseapex. Both species have three varices to a whorl ; but in theinterstices in M. nigrispinosa three or even more nodose costae aremet with, whilst in the present species there are but two, and these