Cerithium elegantissimum, sp. nov.
(Fig. 24).

Shell tall, narrow, ovate fusiform, with a prominent varix behind the last whorl, flattish beaded whorls and a deeply excavated suture. Colour, russet brown, shading on the base into burnt umber, irregularly picked out on longitudinal ribs with white. Whorls eleven, rather flattened, separated by deep and sharply incised sutures, last whorl almost equalling in length the remainder, and no broader than the penultimate. Sculpture—weak longitudinal ribs continuously and perpendicularly cross the lower three whorls, fading away on the periphery of the last. These form gemmules on the spiral cords; on the earlier whorls these can be also traced. A particularly stout varix occurs ion the last whorl opposite the aperture, a corner of which is shown in the illustration. Immediately beneath the suture winds a slender cord; four spiral rows of gemmules encircle the space between it and the periphery, the uppermost of which tends to split into two; the remaining space between the periphery and the anterior extremity is occupied by seven simple cords which become more slender and close anteriorly; the upper whorls have but two beaded cords. The aperture is perpendicular and oval, strongly variced without and consequently shelved within; columella arched, with a thick brown callus; canal very short and wide, slightly recurved. Length 5, breadth 2 mm.

Fig. 24.

Abundant on stones in shallow water in the lagoon at Funafuti. A specimen before me from Thursday Island, Queensland, differs slightly from the above in the greater prominence of the longitudinal ribbing.