16
OX SILIQUAEIA WILiTAX.E, X.SP.. FROM SOUTH AFIUC.V.
By J. R. Lk E. Tomlix, M.A., F.E.S.
Ecad 14th DtVfmM-. 1917.
The species which I propose to dosignute by tliis name is very
possibly that listed by Sowerby ' as a small form of Siliqudrid ohfusa,
kSohumaeher. aud by Hartsoh • as /S. tce'Iiit, '^.-^^ cods ; at any rate, it is
one of the many endemic Cape species that have till recently been
erroneously identified with species from other parts of the world.
This shell does not tally with Sohumacher's description of his
Anguifiivitf ohfmti. and I do not entertain for a moment the possibility
of its identity with a Tasmanian species.
The shell is smooth and without sculpture, as far as can be
ascertained froiu beach specimens, white or brownish in colour,
consisting of 6-7 whorls, which as a rule take the form of a rather
regular, disconnected, spiral coil.
m 771.
The apex is decollate in all the specimens 1 have seen, and the
broken end of the coil is frequently plugged by the animal. The slit
appears on the upper whorls as a deep caualiculation closed with a
lamella, becoming open on the last two or three whorls, and the
species therefore falls into Miirch's section Pi/.ripotna. The altitiuie
of the type-specimen is 15'5mm., and the diameter of the tube
2 5 mm., but the latter measurement varies considerably in different
specimens.
Zoc. — Port Alfred, .Totfreys Eay, and East Loudon. Probably it
is generally distributed in the Cape region.
In general form and size *S. tnlmaua: is very similar to «S. senr'pdli'nsis.
Keel., but the latter belongs to the section Aflathirsfs, the slit taking
the form of a series of separate, irregular apertuns.
Ti/pf. — The longer of the two examples tigured, which is in my
own collection.
^ ^rarvt€ Shells of South Africa, p. .39.
-Kept. Turtoa Coll. S. Afr.' Marine Moll. (U.S. Xat. Mus. Bull. 91), p. 117.
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