572 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [Dec, 



the land molltjsca of montego bay, jamaica; with notes on the 

 land molltjsca of the kingston region. 



by h. a. pilsbry and a. p. brown. 



1 . The Mollusca of Montego Bay. 



The species included in this list were taken on the Orange Hill 

 and Rose Mount estates, which lie to the east of the town of Montego 

 Bay, and along the roadsides in this direction. The hills which 

 enclose Montego Bay on the east rise rather abruptly from the sea 

 level, but are dissected by many ravines. One of these, on the 

 Orange Hill estate, is deep enough to produce permanently moist 

 conditions during the summer months. This gully is generally 

 without running water; but when the ground is thoroughly saturated 

 by rains, a heavy thunder shower "makes the gully come down," 

 as the natives express it, in a raging torrent. This depression is 

 probably formed by the falling in of the roof of a cave, and indeed a 

 cave still exists leading off from one side of this gully, the mouth of 

 which is some 20 feet above the bottom of the present gully. The 

 sides of the gully are densely wooded, as are many of the lateral 

 branches which drain into it; the trees may be original forest. It 

 can be travelled for about a mile to a neighboring estate known as 

 Rose Mount, where the ground rises considerably higher and expo- 

 sures of the limestone in place are met with upon the hill tops. Here 

 again are some patches of original forest. But the land about 

 Montego Bay, with exception of a few places, has all been cleared 

 of its original forest many years ago, and much of this cleared land 

 has been at some time under cultivation. 



Where the cleared land was planted in orange or logwood, it is 

 now often grown up in a thicket; this is especially true of the old 

 logwood plantations on the Orange Hill estate. These occupy the 

 tops of dry hills, where the limestone soil, although dry, harbors 

 many small snails which prefer a dry habitat. The greater part of 

 the cleared fields on these estates are used for pastures, but these 

 are sometimes stony and dry also. In the lower grounds, on some of 

 the adjoining estates, sugar-cane is grown, and this was found to be 

 poor collecting ground. 



