brown shell, with a greyish or yellow interior. It is found in great
numbers on rocks in all parts of New Zealand. Sometimes it is over
three inches in length. The animal equals the Cominella in voracity. The
Maori name is Kakare, or Kaeo, both of which names are also given to the
Astralium sulcatum (Plate VI., Fig. 18).
~SCAPHELLA PACIFICA~ (Plate II.).--Fig. 12 (late Voluta pacifica) is a
yellow or chestnut-coloured shell, with dark markings, and is sometimes
nine inches in length. It is found in large numbers washed up on the
beaches in both Islands after gales, and varies so much in colour,
markings, and shape that a good pair is seldom procurable. Sometimes
even the nodules, or lumps, shown in the plate, are wanting, and
sometimes the markings are wanting. It was until lately known as the
Voluta pacifica, being one of the well-known Volute family. It lives in
the sand on exposed beaches. The Maori name is Pupurore, which name is
also used for the Ancilla australis (Plate II., Fig. 7).
~SCAPHELLA GRACILIS~ (Plate II.).--Fig. 13 (late Voluta gracilis), besides
being smaller and narrower than the Scaphella pacifica, is distinguished
by the markings, which in the latter appear to form bands, while in the
former they do not. With such a variable shell, however, it is difficult
to distinguish the one from the other.
~MITRA MELANIANA~ (Plate II.).--Fig. 14 is a dark chocolate-coloured
mitre-shaped shell. Being smooth and of the same colour, both internally
and externally, it cannot be mistaken. About a score of dead ones,
varying from one and a-half to two inches in length, have been found by
my friends and myself on the ocean beaches near the entrance to Tauranga
Harbour, and at Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty. This is a particularly
interesting discovery, as the Mitre shells (so called from their shape
resembling that of a bishop's mitre) hitherto found out of the tropics
were minute. We have one other Mitre shell, which is pink or brownish,
and under one-third of an inch long.
Plate III. represents two of our largest and most handsome shells.
~DOLIUM VARIEGATUM~, the upper figure (from Latin dolium--a jar with a
wide mouth) is a yellowish brown shell, with dark brown spots, and
exceeds six inches in length. Being fragile, and having a very wide
mouth, perfect specimens are rare, although numbers of broken shells are
from time to time washed up on the ocean beaches in the Province of
Auckland. It lives in sand, but
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