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The Atoll of Funafuti, Ellice group : its zoology, botany, ethnology and general structure based on collections made by Charles Hedley of the Australian Museum, Sydney, N.S.W.

Terebra maculata, Linne

Terebra maculata, Linne.

Tryon, loc. cit., p. 9, pl. i., figs. 9, 10.

This shell is a rarity on Funafuti, and I was unable to personally obtain a specimen, though I identified the species from one purchased from the natives by another member of our party. A specimen was also obtained by Mr. G. Sweet. It was formerly of great value to the inhabitants of this and other Pacific Islands, who employed it as a cutting or boring edge for certain tools.* Dr. Hinds, who found a dwarf form at Hao Atoll, Paumotus, remarks:— "In the Pacific, the animal is eaten as food, and the shell, ground at an angle, was much in use as a chisel in the construction of the canoes."

The "Chevert" Expedition obtained this in Torres Straits. Melvill and Standen note it from Lifu. I collected it at Port Moresby, British New Guinea, where the natives knew it as "bodoa."

* * See ante pp. 249, 259.

† R. B. Hinds—Thes. Conch., i., 1847, p. 150.