1898.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 273 



Fischer; 5 " (B.) " that it has been examined by "W. G. Binney ; 6 

 « (S P.) " by Strebel & Pfeffer ; 7 " (P V.)" by ourselves. 



Genus UROCOPTIS Beck. 



This genus is restricted to Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti, with a few 

 stragglers from the Cuban fauna in south Florida. It is practi- 

 cally a group of the Greater Antilles. The typical forms, with the 

 axis simple, are the most widely spread and probably the oldest 

 type. The large, stout forms being a local development common to 

 Jamaica and Haiti. 



The forms with spiral folds or other ornamentation of the axis 

 are confined to Cuba and the adjacent portion of Haiti. There is 

 every reason to believe them autochthonous to Cuban soil, a few 

 species recently spreading eastward. 



This genus shows the bond between Jamaica and Haiti to be 

 rather stronger than between Cuba and Haiti, the Cuban groups 

 occurring in Haiti being represented by very few species, and these 

 restricted to the extreme western end of the island. 



The elements common to Jamaica and Cuba are the more general- 

 ized and presumably older sectional groups of the genus. 



Respecting the habits and environment of the Jamaican Cylin- 

 drellas of both the genera Urocoptis and Brachypodella, Mr. Charles 

 T. Simpson writes of the experiences of Mr. J. B. Henderson and 

 himself, as follows: "C. sanguinea, rosea, obesa, cylindrus, aspera, 

 brevis and allied forms live on the ground among the scrub and 

 dead leaves, and are of just about the color of their surroundings. 

 We found C. nobilior abundant in a talus of decomposed shaly rock 

 at Bogwalk, of which it was almost exactly the color. C. seminuda, 

 alba and robertsi are found in the crevices of craggy limestone 

 rocks, among cliffs. C. rubra and tenella live in the ground in 

 thickets where there is abundance of dead and decaying wood. 

 The shells, inform and color, always look exactly like pieces of broken 

 twigs, which are found abundantly with them, and it was a long 

 time before Henderson and I found a single specimen. They are 

 very abundant though in proper localities. C. gracilis Wood grows 

 invariably on the trunks and stems of trees in thick scrub. These 

 trees have grayish or whitish spotted bark ; the little rascals attach 

 themselves to it by the foot and stand out with the shell nearly at 



5 Journal de Conchyliologie, 1870. 



6 Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., III. 



7 Beitr. Mex. Moll. 



