114 THE NAUTILUS. 



In North America. Europe and Siberia these shells are known as 

 Conulus; in middle and South America as Guppya ; in India and 

 the Orient generally they bear the names Sltala and Kalidla ; while 

 still other names cover species of Polynesia, etc. 



Belonging to the great family, Zonitidx, these are among the least 

 known snails of that group. The anatomy of only a few species has 

 been investigated ; the limits of specific variation are ill understood ; 

 and while it is moderately certain that there are several genera, still 

 the boundaries and contents of them remain to be decided. 



Of the several generic names mentioned above, Conulus of Fitzinger 

 (1833) is the oldest,* the type thereof being the familiar, though not 

 well known, Helix fulva. 



Herr Reinhardtf was, I believe, the first to point out the fact that 

 under C. fulvus of European authors, more than one species was in- 

 cluded. He distinguished two: the true C. fulvus, living in the 

 woods, and a new one, C. praticola, which is darker colored, brownish 

 yellow, very glossy, the height very nearly equalling the diameter, 

 whorls rounder, the keel almost wholly disappearing, the mouth less 

 wide but higher, and the base shows distinct spiral striation. It lives 

 in meadows. 



Bourguignat,^ dealing with the forms of southern and western Eu- 

 rope and northern Africa, agrees with Reinhardt as to the identity of 

 the typical fulvus; and. ignoring G.praticola, he recognizes and 

 defines some eight species inhabiting this area, all but two of them, 

 fulvus Miill. and Mortoni Jeffr., being new. This, however, seems 

 to be rather an extreme view, and it is likely that there are not more 

 than half this number, if so many as that, in Europe. 



A number of forms have been described from Japan ; but, like the 

 Japanese Helices, Clausilias and most other snails, they apparently 

 belong to Chinese and Indian types, rather than to the C. fulvus 

 group. The senior species, H. pupula Gould, is far larger than/W- 

 vus, measuring some five mm. in height. 



In America, Thomas Say defined two forms : H'.lix chersina, based 

 upon one hardly mature specimen from the Georgia Sea Islands, and 

 H. eaena, from a locality in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Both of 

 these have been considered synonyms of C. fulvus. In 1&83 Herr 



* Syst, Verzeich. Oesterreich Weichtiere, p. 94. The group originally con- 

 tained some Helices also. 



t Sitzungsber. Ges. naturforsch. Freuude zu Berlin, 1888, p. 40. 

 Bull. Soc. Malar, de France, VII. 1890, p. 325-338, plate 8. 



