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

5GCOLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA.44. Voluta volva, var. (Plate V. fig. K.){Chemnitz ?), Reeve, Coneh. Icon. fig. 24.Yoluta pallida, Grai/, Kiener, Coq. Viv. pi. 48.Hah. Thursday Island, Torres Straits, 3-4 fathoms.Typical specimens of V. volva should be uniformly of a fleshy bufftint, exhibiting the slightest indication of two bands of a somewhatdarker colour across the body-whorl ; the normal volutions shouldbe spotted with dark brown immediately beneath the suture, andstained with yellowish brown above it, and the aperture at a shortdistance from the margin of the lip should be of a lighter brown.Two specimens from Swan River, presented to the British Museumby Capt. Mangles, E.N., possess the above characteristics, but inaddition have numerous, more or less wavj'^ and zigzag palebrownish lines, most conspicuous upon the two indistinct transversezones, extending downwards from the suture, but not reticulatingin a longitudinal direction. The only specimen obtained by Dr.Coppinger, although having the labrum much broken away, stillpossesses considerable interest in that it resembles the specimensjust mentioned, but with all the tints much darkened, in whichrespect it approximates more closely to V. reticulata, Reeve ; indeedthe group of Volutes from North, North-west, and West Australiaincludes a number of species which appear to have several charactersin common, and present considerable difficulty of distinction :such are, in addition to those previously mentioned, V. tarneri,Gray, V. pra^texta. Reeve, and V. ellioti, Sowerby.45. Ranella rana.Murex rana, Linn., Hanley, Ipsa Linn. Conch, p. 284.Eanella albivaricosa, Reeve, Conch. Icon, fig. 2; Kohelt, Con.-Cab,p. 183 pi. 38. figs. 4, 6, 8, 9.Bursa sueusonii, Morch, Cat. Yoldi, p. 106.Var. = Ranella subgranosa, Beck, Reeve, Conch. Icon. fig. 1 ;Co7ich. III. fig. 18; Kobelf, Con.- Cab. p. 135, pi. 39. fig. 2.= Ranella beckii, Kiener, Coq. Viv. p. 5, pi. 4. fig. 1.Soiverbi/yHub. Port Molle, Queensland, 14 fms., rock.Other localities attributed to this species are China and Ceylon(albivaricosa) ; Philippine Islands and China (subgranosa) ; NicobarIslands {suensonii).46. Eanella pulchella.Forbes, Voyaeje of the ' Rattlesnake; vol. ii. (1852), p. 382, pi. 3.figs. 6 alb.Ranella jucunda, A. Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853, p. 70.ffccb. North Australia (Adams); dredged in 8 to 11 fms. water,on a bottom of sand and shells, between Cumberland Island andPoint Slade (lat. 21° S., long. 149° 20' E.) (Forbes) ; Port Curtis,