bartsch: classification of helicinidae 643 



prominent, the lateral veins slender, 8 or 9 on each side, ascending at 

 a wide angle, nearly straight, laxly anastomosed near the margin; 

 fruit subglobose, 4.5 cm. in diameter, terminal, solitary, subsessile, the 

 pericarp very thick; seeds (very immature) numerous. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 678301, collected in the 

 vicinity of Cana, Panama, altitude 1350 meters, in 1908, by R. S. 

 Williams (no. 814). 



A relative of Genipa americana, apparently, but very different in the 

 rounded apex of the leaves and rounded, obovate stipules. 



ZOOLOGY. — Classification of the Philippine operculate land shells 

 of the family Helicinidae, with a synopsis of the species and 

 subspecies of the genus Geophorus.^ Paul Bartsch, National 

 Museum. 



The constant demand for determinations of Philippine land 

 shells frequently makes it necessary to lay aside monographic 

 work on the mollusks of these islands, in order to straighten out 

 the nomenclature of a group wholly different from the one upon 

 which the writer may be engaged. This is true in the present 

 instance. Several sendings of Helicina, in the old sense of that 

 term, have made it necessary to subject the whole group, which 

 is a rather large one, to critical examination. It is believed 

 that the synopsis of the superspecific groups and the keys and 

 brief comments on the species and subspecies of the largest genus 

 of the family in the islands, Geophorus, will prove helpful in 

 classifying material. 



The genus Geophorus is not a difficult one. The greatest 

 trouble in the past appears to have been the assigning of too 

 many forms to one name, for frequently in the past authors 

 have assigned to one species specimens which we now know 

 belong to different genera. A very careful inventory of all the 

 characters should enable anyone readily to place any of the 

 known forms under its proper name by the use of the appended 

 keys and critical remarks. 



In the preparation of this paper, I have been particularly fortu- 

 nate in having in the National Museum collections a set of Sow- 

 erby's cotypes collected in the Philippine Islands by Hugh Cum- 

 ing, and also a set of von Mollendorff's Philippine Island shells, 



' Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



