48 ACHATINA, EAST AFRICA. 



certainty or unanimity by conchologists. The species called 

 fidva by Reeve and Deshayes seems to be near A. pantkera, 

 and does not agree with the description of fulva in either 

 external coloring or that of the columella. Pfeiffer consid- 

 ered fidva to be Reeve's acuta, but that form is open to the 

 same objections. What it is Boettger reports from Nossi-Be 

 is not known, as he gives no description, merely stating that 

 the common Achatina of Nossi-Be is identical with fulva of 

 the British Museum. This form has been called panthera by 

 Crosse (Journ. de Conchy!., xxix, 1881, p. 196, referring to 

 Ferussac, pi. 126, f. 1, 2, as an illustration). See A. macu- 

 lata Desh. 



The name fulvescens is merely a variation of fulva, and 

 defined by reference to Bruguiere only. 



43. A. MACULATA Deshayes. PI. 44, fig. 2. 



Shell ovate-oblong, ventricose, obsoletely striate; apex ob- 

 tuse. Whorls 8, the last fulvous-brown, ornamented with 

 large brown spots or longitudinal streaks, the upper ones 

 whitish with brown flames. Aperture shorter than the spire ; 

 columella twisted, white; lip white within, with a brown 

 internal margin. 



It is distinguished from the rest of the large species at 

 first sight by the more elongated shape, less swollen, the 

 aperture especially being shorter, the whorls of the spire 

 longer and more convex; the summit more pointed; and, 

 moreover, it has a special coloration. Covered with an epi- 

 dermis, it is greenish-brown, interrupted by irregularly- 

 spaced longitudinal white and deep brown stripes. Towards 

 the summit the above-mentioned ground-color alternates with 

 more numerous white stripes, and it changes gradually to 

 brown flames, which diminish gradually and disappear, leav- 

 ing the summit white. Whorls 9, convex, rounded, smooth 

 or presenting some obsolete longitudinal striae. The aperture 

 is shorter than the spire. It is dilated, entirely white within, 

 the right margin very thin, acute, and of the same color as 

 the exterior. The columella is entirely white, strongly sin- 

 uous in the middle. The truncation of the base is not very 



