270 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Art. XIX. — Contributions to the Molluscan Fauna of New 



Zealand. 



By H. SuTER. 



{^Rcad before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 4th November, 



lil91.] 



Professor F. W. Hutton, in his " Revision of the Land 

 MoUusca of New Zealand " (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xvi.), after 

 having examined the dentition of a large number of our 

 molluscs, was the first to see the necessity of establishing a 

 faniily for those of our land-shells which represent intermediate 

 forms between the Limacidaj and PatulidEe. This family he 

 called Charopidcfi (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xvi., p. 199), in- 

 cluding in it the genera Gcrontia, Pyrrha, Charopa {Ch. Ida), 

 Payra, Therasia, and Tlialassia. Now, the type of the group 

 or genus Gharopa, Albers, is our Patula coma, Gray (Albers, 

 Die Heliceen, II. Ausgabe, von E. von Martens, p. 87); and 

 I think w'e should retain the name of Gharopa for the group of 

 P. coma, Gray, which belongs to the family of the Patulidse, 

 We therefore have to look for another name for our shells. 

 None of the groups established by Albers or Pfeiffer can be 

 taken into consideration. We have to deal here with evidently 

 very old forms, showing peculiarities in their animals which 

 hardly are met with in the Northern Hemisphere. The flora 

 and fauna of New Zealand are well known for their peculiari- 

 ties, and our land and fresh-water molluscs form no exception 

 to the rule. How far similar forms are distributed over the 

 Southern Hemisphere remains to be investigated. In my 

 collection I used for several j'ears the name of Pseudohelicidae 

 for this family; but I have to give it up, as Dr. 0. Boettger in 

 1890 gave the name of Pscudohelix to a group of Vertigo, and 

 I propose now the name of Phenacohelicidae. 



The genus Phenacohelix I substituted for Fruticicola (Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst., vol. xvi., p. 194), as Professor F. W. Hutton fully 

 agrees with me that none of our New Zealand shells belongs 

 to Fruticicola. It includes Ph.pilula, Reeve ; Ph. granum, Pf. ; 

 and Pii. chordata, Pf. 



The generic name of Gharopa, given by Professor F. W. 

 Hutton to Helix ida. Gray, I propose to change to Patulopsis. 



The family of the Phenacohelicidie contains molluscs which 

 are characterized by the heliciform animal possessing a caudal 

 gland; the jaw is, with few exceptions, ribbed, stegognath ; 

 the marginal teeth show all intermediate forms from aculeate 

 to quadrate, but even in the latter case some of the cutting- 

 points are usually very long. The shell is that of Helix, spire 



