216 ACHATINELLA VULPINA. 



West to Kahauiki the shells are invariably sinistral. From 

 the western ridge of Kahauiki westward a few dextral in- 

 dividuals occur sporadically in the colonies, though sinistral 

 shells predominate. 



Typical form. A. vulpina was originally based upon rather 

 small specimens about 19 mm. long, of a pattern which was 

 subsequently considered by collectors to be a variety of 

 castanea Reeve. The types were somewhat faded, either by 

 weather or the application of heat in cleaning, to a reddish 

 or fox color, which suggested the name. Ferussac also figured 

 a variant having a darker band over the lower two-thirds of 

 the last whorl. Subsequently, in the Histoire, Ferussac fig- 

 ured a large specimen of uniform tawny reddish color, 

 length 25 mm., probably from the Pauoa slope of Tantalus. 

 The original description follows. 



"Shell sinistral, conic, elongate, vertex obtuse; glossy, 

 sharply striate ; epidermis fulvous or rufous, fugacious, the 

 apex pale. Whorls 5%, a little convex ; suture distinct, dupli- 

 cate. Aperture sernilunate, white ; peristome thickened with- 

 in ; columella white or rose, arcuate ; umbilical crevice not 

 distinct. 



"a, Rufous, unicolored. Z>, Rufous with a broad brown 

 band. It inhabits the Sandwich Islands' (Per.). Length 

 19, diam. 10 mm. (from type figure). 



This typical form ranges from Makiki to Nuuanu valley. 



PL 39, fig. 1 represents a shell from Nuuanu valley, coll. 

 C. M. Cooke, exactly agreeing with Ferussac 's type (repre- 

 sented, I take it, by his fig. 13). It is deep chestnut colored, 

 darker towards the base, becoming lighter upwards, the first 

 three whorls buff. There is no dark sutural border. The 

 surface is very glossy, distinctly marked with growth-striae 

 on the last 3!/2 whorls; embryonic whorls very delicately 

 striate spirally. Length 19, diam. 10 mm., G 1 ^ whorls. Other 

 specimens of the same lot are larger, up to 21 mm. long, and 

 most of them are less slender. The columella varies from 

 pale lilac to nearly white. A large specimen measures, length 

 23.5, diam. 13 mm. It is of course clear that the historic 

 type-form of vulpina is an abberrant melanistic variation of 

 a species more normally represented by virens. 



