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Dedicated to the indefatigable illustrator of Australian ornithology. Ranella pulchella. Tab. 3 fig. 6. a, b.
There is a variety known as pulchella, in which the spines are of a yellow hue. A pretty little species, with globose stems, scarcely 3 in. high, and nearly the same in diameter, branching sometimes when old; tubercles ¼ in. long, egg-shaped, corky when old, and persistent. Spines in tufts of about twenty, all radiating except one in the centre, which is hooked; they are about ½ in. long.
In the North-east Australian province, a different set of shells was dredged in similar depths, such as a Sigaretus, possibly new, Fissurella calyculata, Mitra obeliscus, a Turritella, a Murex, Columbella versicolor, and a new species off Cape York, Ranella pulchella, new, several Nassae, Phos senticosa and blainvillei, and sculptilis, in 3 and 5 fathoms, off Cape York; Strombus campbelli, in mud off Cape Upstart; Cerithium obeliscus, and a new species of the genus Obeliscus.
Other instances studied by the French investigator are Erythraea pulchella and Calamintha Acinos. Dimorphism is of universal occurrence in the whole vegetable kingdom. In some cases it is typical, and may easily be discerned from extreme fluctuating variability. In others the contrast is not at all obvious, and a closer investigation is needed to decide between the two possibilities.
The larva of Nomada may be known from those of its host, by its slenderer body and smaller head, while the body is smoother and more cylindrical. Both sexes of Nomada imbricata and N. pulchella were found by Mr. Emerton, the former in both the Andrena and Halictus nests, and both were found in a single Andrena nest.
Sir W. Parish has given me some of these shells, and M. d'Orbigny pronounces them to be: Buccinanops globulosum, d'Orbigny. Olivancillaria auricularia, d'Orbigny. Venus flexuosa, Lam. Mactra Isabellei, d'Orbigny. Ostrea pulchella, d'Orbigny. Voluta colocynthis. Voluta angulata. These shell-beds extend from one league to six leagues from the Plata, and must lie many feet above its level.
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