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

52 COLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA.37. Sistrum tuberculatum.Purpura tubercxilatum, Blamville, Nonv. Arch, clu Mvs. vol. i. 1832,p. 204, pi. 9. fig. 3.Riciuula tuberculata, Heeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 11.Purpura tuberculata, Kiener, C'oq. Vh\ pi. 5. fig. 10.Purpura gi-auulata, Duclos, Ami. Sci. Nat. 1832, vol. xxvi. pi. 2.fig. 9.? Purpura margiualba, Blamville, I. c. p. 212, pi. 10. fig. 6.Ifab. Lord Hood aud Elizabeth Islands (Cummg); Madagascarand Red Sea {Blainville) ; New Holland and the Friendly Islands{Kiener) ; Port Essington, Port Jackson, Brisbane, Japan, StewartIsland, and Lord Hood's Island (Bnt. 2Ins.) ; Port Molle and PortCurtis, Queensland {Copijincfer); Seychelles and Amirantes Islands(Dufo) ; Reunion (Deshayes) ; Mauritius (Martens).38. Latirus angustus. (Plate Y. fig. F.)Shell narrow, fusiform, of a rich brown colour. Whorls llg ; thetwo apical ones smooth, forming a bluutish apex, the rest stronglyribbed and spirally ridged. liibs a little oblique, very broad,rounded, with scarcely any interstices, not reaching the upperboundary of the whorls. Transverse lirac or ridges strong : threeprincipal ones on the upper whorls ; the uppermost, or that almostbounding the suture, a little wavy, scarcely afl:ected by the longitudinalcostoe ;the two otbers situated round the middle of thewhorls, prominent, and rather acute on the ribs ; between theseare fine thread-like lirae, generally one in each interstice. Last whorlsimilarly lirated throughout with large and small ridges. The entiresurface of the shell exhibits between the transverse lirje coarse linesof growth. Aperture small, subpyriformly ovate, brownish whitewithin, with about four slender white lirse not reaching to themargin of the labrum, which is crenulated and dotted with brownat the ends of the exterior ridge. Columella covered with a prominentbrownish callosity bearing two fine transverse plaits, one at themiddle and the other below it. Canal almost straight and nearlyclosed. Length 38 millim., diameter 9.Hab. Eitzroy Island, Queensland ( (7opjw;(/fr) ; Andaman Islands(teste G. B. Sowerby,jun.).This species may be recognized by its slender form, in whichrespect it somewhat resembles L. lancea. Viewed with the unassistedeye, the wborls appear to bo encircled by three transverseprominent liroe, of which the uppermost is nearly simple, whilstthe two inferior ones are undulate upon aud between the ribs.The specimen said to have come from the Andaman Islands, apparentlyadult, is smaller than that from Queensland, being 20 millim.long and 6^ broad, but in other respects similar.