-^^*'<»^ 



JOURNAL ^^ ,^^,. 



OF THE v^^ ^ 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Vol. 9 DECEMBER 19, 191 9 No. 21 



ZOOLOGY. — The Philippine Island landshells of the genus 

 Platyraphe.^ Paul Bartsch, U. S. National Museum. 



Demands for identification of Philippine Island land mollusks 

 have made it necessary to subject a number of groups to a thor- 

 ough revision. Of these the genus Platyraphe seems to have 

 been very poorly understood by writers in the past, and mem- 

 bers belonging to this genus have been indiscriminately placed 

 with Platyraphe or Eucy dolus and Pseudocyclophorus. It is not 

 at all surprising that this should have been the case, for the true 

 characters of the group seem to have so far been overlooked, 

 and the superficial characters in many instances resemble char- 

 acters presented by members of the other two genera. 



Members of the genus Platyraphe can, however, always be 

 distinguished by the possession of a slender tube in the angle of 

 junction between the outer lip and the parietal wall, on the inside 

 of the aperture ; that is, on the inside of the posterior angle of the 

 aperture. This tube begins a little behind the peristome where 

 it is punctured and extends back for a variable distance in dif- 

 ferent species, terminating in a second puncture. It is evidently 

 used as a breathing siphon when the animal is withdrawn and 

 the shell sealed by the operculum. 



Additional new material is arriving so frequently from un- 

 explored regions of the Islands that it does not seem advisable 

 at the present time to publish a monograph upon this group. 

 I am, therefore, retaining the manuscript, which is being added 

 to as the material arrives, and for the present offer a simple 

 key, which it is believed will be of assistance to collectors in 

 identifying their material. 



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



649 



