ACHATINA, WEST AFRICA. 31 



utely granulated. Columella peculiarly arched and twisted, 

 abruptly truncated. Yellowish, stained towards the apex 

 with chestnut longitudinal bands and encircled about the 

 middle with a rather indistinct interrupted spiral band ; 

 columella and interior of the aperture bluish- white (Reeve}. 



Length 140, diam. 67, length of aperture 75 mm. 



Length 108, diam. 49, length of aperture 57 mm. 



West. Africa: banks of the river Gambia (Cuming coll.); 

 Free Town, Sierra Leone (U. S. exped.) ; forests of Golungo 

 Alto and in the district of Novo Redondo, Benguela (Wel- 

 witsch). Gabun (coll. A. N. S.). Chinchoxo on the Loanda 

 coast (Mechow). 



Achatina balteata RVE., Conch. Icon., v, pi. 2, f. 7 (Feb., 

 1849). DESK, in Fer., Hist., ii, p. 164, pi. 132, f. 3-5.- 

 PFR., Monogr., iii, p. 487 ; Conchyl. Cab., p. 304, pi. 11, f . 3, 

 4. MORELET, Voy. Welwitsch, p. 65. STEARNS, Proc. U. S. 

 Nat, Mus., 1893, p. 326. MARTENS, Jahrb. D. Mai. Ges., ix, 

 245. 



The surface of the last whorl has the appearance of being 

 covered with a rough, fibrous epidermis, caused by the pecu- 

 liar sculpture seen under a lens. The fine folds are densely 

 granulose, while the intervals are mainly smooth and glossy. 

 The whorls of the spire have an excessively fine, even and 

 beautiful sculpture of minute granules in spiral rows. The 

 first whorl or two are smooth and whitish. There is no change 

 of sculpture at the periphery. The shell is quite heavy for 

 its size. 



The enormous length of coast along the Gulf of Guinea 

 separates the northwestern range given by Reeve and Stearns 

 for this species, from the southern given by Morelet; but 

 the locality Gabun lies between the extremes. A series of 

 specimens before me from Gabun indicates that A. infrafusca 

 is an extreme form, which intergrades with typical balteata. 

 D'Ailly found only the allied A. iostoma in the Kamerun 

 collections studied by him. 



Dr. Welwitsch reports that in Benguela the blacks use this 

 species, as well as A. monetaria, for the coinage of "qui- 

 randa" currency. 



