Page:Beautiful·Shells·of·New·Zealand-Moss-1908.pdf/46

 marked with chestnut, red, or white. The interior is whitish and brown, the exterior being smooth, and the extreme length of the shell about an inch. The markings of the hinge and teeth are similar to those of the Glycymeris laticostata.

GARDITA AVICULINA (Plate IX.). Fig. 5 (late Mytilicardia excavata) is an irregular-shaped white shell, with yellow, pink, or dirty brown markings. The longitudinal grooves on the outside are very rugged and deep. The shell is over an inch in length, and is found in both Islands and in Australia.

RHYNCHONELLA NIGRICANS (Plate IX.).—Fig. 6 is an irregular-shaped, ribbed, black or dark brown shell, the left valve being much more rounded than the other. It is found up to one and a-quarter inches in breadth in the South Island and in the Bay of Plenty.

TEREBRATELLA SANGUINEA (Plate IX.).—Fig. 7 (late Terebratella cruenta) is an orange-red, evenly ribbed, shell up to one and three-quarter inches in breadth, found in the South Island. The left valve in this shell is nearly flat.

TEREBRATELLA RUBICUNDA (not shown on plate) is a smooth, pink, or dark red shell, of the same shape, but only half the size, of the Telebratella sanguinea, and found in considerable numbers in both Islands amongst stones. It is particularly plentiful amongst the stones on Rangitoto Island, in Auckland Harbour.

MAGELLANIA LENTICULARIS (late Waldheimia lenticularis) is not shown in the plate, but is a large, smooth, red or brown shell, two inches long, similar in shape to the above. All the above four shells, namely, the Rhynchonella, Terebratella (2), and Magellania, belong to the Terebratula family, and the right valve is longer than the left, and there is a small round orifice at the hinge end for the foot of the animal. On account of the resemblance these shells bear to the old Roman lamp, they are known as Lamp shells.

LITHOPHAGO TRUNCATA (Plate IX.).—Fig. 8 (late Lithodomus truncatus) is a thin brown shell, covered with a black