1911.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 581 



many years, and indeed still exists. Even with the series we now 

 have they are difficult, although the recognition of a greater number 

 of species does away with much of the variability formerly thought to 

 exist. The specific characters, once mastered, appear to be rather 

 constant, though sometimes not conspicuous at first sight. Helix 

 epistylium Muller, formerly thought to be a Sagda and variously 

 identified, has been shown by Morch to be a Streptaxis, not a Ja- 

 maican shell. H. epistylioides Fer. we have not satisfactorily identified, 

 and it probably has not been rediscovered. As figured and de- 

 scribed, it is more strongly sculptured than any of the known species. 



Sagda jayana (C. B. Adams). Plate XLIII, figs. 8 to 12. 



Helix jayana C. B. Ad., Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., II, p. 17, 1845. 

 (/) Epistylia conica Swainson, Malacology, p. 165, fig. 18a, 1840. 



This species was described by a parallel-column comparison with 

 " Helix epistylium Mull." of C. B. Adams = Sagda cookiana Gmel. 

 The description might apply to several of the large obtusely pyrami- 

 dal forms, except for the phrase "t. latiore, subtus latissime et pro- 

 funde indentata," which unmistakably indicates the Sagda of the 

 region about Stony Hill, in St. Andrew Parish, some eight miles from 

 Kingston. 



The shell is pyramidal, with dome-shaped summit, the spire very 

 wide and steep-sided as far up as the upper third or fourth; last 

 whorl much depressed, the base deeply and very broadly excavated 

 around the axis, its greatest convexity nearer the periphery than to 

 the axis. Surface very finely but distinctly striate, and having a 

 microscopic sculpture like a woven fabric. Aperture less deeply lunate 

 than in S. adamsiana. Basal lamella slightly over a half whorl long, 

 its lower end visible deep in the throat. Columellar lamella longer, very 

 stout, extending strongly nearly to the edge of the columellar margin. 

 Alt. 24^, diam. 26 mm. with 10 whorls, or larger, diam. 29| mm. 



Up to the half-grown stage, 5 to 8 whorls, the shell is much de- 

 pressed, the last whorl subangular, base flattened and not much 

 excavated at the axis; aperture narrowly lunate; lamellae as in the 

 adult stage. A shell of 6| whorls measures: alt. 10.3, diam. 18 mm. 



The specimens described and figured are from Stony Hill, near 

 Constant Spring, where it lives in company with S. cookiana Gmel., 

 a circumstance which probably influenced Prof. Adams to compare 

 them in his original description. 



The most important features differentiating this species from S. 

 adamsiana are: the very broad excavation of the base, the wide 

 spire, and the nearly emerging columellar lamella. We may add 



