258 Mr. W. H. Benson on Freshwater Shells 



sequently described by Lea as M. lateritia), mistaken for M. 



Riquetii. 



Clea Annesleyi, B. 



Testa oblongo-ovata, solidiuscula, radiatim striata, striis sulcisque 

 spiralibus obsoletis plus minusve decussata, epidermide olivacea, 

 fasciis castaneis superne subtusque conspicuioribus ornata, non- 

 nunquam omnino atro-castanea, induta ; spira ovato-conica, apice 

 obtusiusculo plerumque eroso, sutura impressa; anfractibus A\ 

 convexiusculis, ultimo f testae sequante, prope suturam angulato, 

 infra medium sulcis duobus obliquis, et basin versus crista com- 

 pressiuscula cincto, basi profunde emarginata ; apertura elliptico- 

 ovata, intus (prsecipue superne subtusque) fasciata, peristomate 

 tenui, infra ad finem sulcorum undulato, columella superne sinuata, 

 callosa, polita, livide lilacina, margine antice incrassato spiraliter 

 torto, callo parietali crasso, plerumque atro-purpureo. Operculo 

 unguiculato, parvo, corneo, nucleo marginali, dextrali, subbasali, 

 rostro basali elevato muni to. 



Long. 8£, diam. \\ mill. 



Habitat in stagno prope Quilon. 



This interesting form was taken alive in a tank between 

 the sea and the canal which communicates with Cochin to the 

 north of Quilon. It was accompanied by Corbicula Quilonensis. 

 The last whorl is occasionally of a blackish olive hue ; and in 

 this state the interior is tinged with purplish black. Soaked in 

 warm water, the epidermis assumes a pustulose character, which 

 disappears when the shell is dry. 



The species in question appears to enter into the genus Clea, 

 H. & A. Adams, founded on shells from Borneo and Malacca, 

 in the ' Zoological Proceedings ' for 1855, agreeing therewith in 

 the construction of the columella and base of the shell, though 

 belonging to a different sectional type of form. 



Lovell Reeve has, in the ' Conchologia Iconica/ merged Clea 

 into Swainson's Hemisinus, in which the base of the columella is 

 simply sinuate, and of which the typical species inhabit tropical 

 America. He gives no information regarding the operculum, 

 which was scarcely likely to be absent from all the specimens of 

 Hemisinus which came under his inspection in Mr. Cuming's 

 collection. Whether it is spiral as in Melania, or unguiculate 

 as in Tanalia, is not stated ; neither is any account given in 

 the ' Zoological Proceedings ' of the construction of the opercu- 

 lum in Clea. Figures and descriptions of Brazilian Hemisini, 

 under the genus Melanopsis, appear in the Number of the 

 ' Journal de Conchyliologie ' for July 1860; but no mention is 

 made of the operculum, the examination of which is too fre- 

 quently neglected. 



The aspect of the shells figured in the ' Conchologia Iconica' 

 as Melanopsis Zelandica, Gould, and M. Strangei, Reeve, affords" 



