ACHATINA, EAST AFRICA. 37 



35<z. Var. fatalis Martens. 



Elongated, somewhat ventricose, thick-shelled, closely pli- 

 cate-striate with shallow spiral lines, which are distinct and 

 rather numerous on the upper whorls, obsolete on the last; 

 whitish with a few brown, vertical streaks. Whorls 8y 2 , con- 

 vex, regularly increasing, the last long-elliptical with a spiral 

 groove close below the suture, long, somewhat saccate below. 

 Aperture comparatively small, scarcely oblique, obliquely 

 quadrangular ; peristome white ; columellar margin short, 

 thick, nearly vertical, weakly truncate, the basal margin 

 rounded below the truncation. Parietal callous thin, very 

 pale rose-red. Length 143, diam. of the last whorl 73, of 

 the penultimate 55 mm. ; aperture 60 mm. long, and including 

 the columellar margin 47, without it 39 mm. wide (Mart.). 



On all the steppes below Kilima-Njaro, 700-1100 meters, 

 rather common, the types from near Dechalla lake (Dr. Vol- 

 kens) ; steppes at the southern foot of Kilima-Njaro (Dr. 

 Lent) . 



Achatina fatalis MART., Sitz.-Ber. d. Ges. nat. Freunde ;m 

 Berlin, 1895, p. 145. A. bloyeti var. fatalis MART., Moll. D. 

 Ost-Af., p. 82. 



The thickness of the shell and the general shape remind 

 one of A. reticulata. Bourguignat's description of A. Noyeti 

 agrees in many particulars, but his words, "grosse striato- 

 lainellosa, ' ' indicate a still stronger sculpture, and more stress 

 is laid upon the rounding out of the individual whorls, with 

 pronounced deepening of the suture, than would be the case 

 with our snail. 



This shell plays a part in the trials by ordeal of the AVad- 

 shagga peoples, the accused whose guilt or innocence is to be 

 proved being compelled to take the poison draught from it. 



36. A. MARIEI Ancey. PI. 13, fig. 45. 



Shell thick, ponderous, imperforate, somewhat shining, 

 chestnut-colored, the last whorl chestnut-gray, summit pale, 

 then the upper whorls lightly brown-flamed, the rest hardly 

 streaked or variegated; lower whorls with fold-like growth- 

 lines, the apical ones smooth ; posteriorly granulose-decussate, 



