Some Notes on American Land Shells. ' 37 



H, (Triodopsis) copei^ Wetherby. — This species, of which I pub- 

 lished a description in the American Naturalist for March, 1878, with 

 good figures, has since been recognized as distinct, both b3' Mr. 

 Binney and Mr. Bland, although it receives no mention by Mr. Binney 

 in Terrestrial Jlollusks, vol. v., this volume being issued in Jul3^, 1878, 

 before he had seen either the tj^pes or the description. 



The shell belongs to that division of the genus Triodopsis, of which 

 the //. vuUuosa, Gould, is the t3'pe. It is a well-marked species, and 

 need oul}" be compared with Jl.vultaosa^ and that form published by 

 Mr. Mazyc, as //. henriettce, and which Mr. Binne}^ regards as a 

 variet3^ of vultiiosa. From both it differs in the form of the parietal 

 tooth, as well as in other plain characters. It was associated with the 

 following species, in the pine forests and oak hammocks, twcnt}' miles 

 north of Beaumont, Texas. JS. intertexta, Binn., H. demissa, Binn., a 

 carinate variet}^; H. monodon, Rackett, a peculiar, very elevated 

 form, which I have never seen from an}- other localit}^; H. thyroides, 

 Sa}"; a variet^^ with the umbilicus closed, and affording manj'' speci- 

 mens with an extraordinary^ elevation of the spire, and of a beautiful 

 red color; H. vultiiosa^ Gould, " typical" (Bland), and^. arborea, Say. 

 With these was found the Helicina tropica, Jan, in great numbers. 

 It is a fact, worthy the attention of collectors, that it is not w^orth 

 while to search under or about pine logs for snails. At this locality, 

 where anj^ fragment of bark, any chip, or an}^ log of other timber 

 was found to be inhabited by the mollusks, the pine logs were in- 

 variabl}^ barren ; and such 1 have ever observed to be the case in Ten- 

 nessee, Kentuck^^ and North Carolina; and the rarity of land shells 

 in forests, almost or exclusively pine, is a fact well known. 



In this connection it may not be out of place to state that the col- 

 lector who has a full series of all the North American species of 

 Triodopsis, even if without the many intervening varieties from dif- 

 fering stations, will reach the conclusion that many of the so-called 

 species are sub-species or varieties, and a full description of these 

 varieties and their comparison with the type, as the Marchesa 

 Paulucci has done in her beautiful work. Fauna Malacologica Delia 

 Calabria, Firenze, 1880, '-is a consummation devoutly to be wished." 

 In this invaluable contribution to the malacolog}^ of southern Europe, 

 the illustrious author has devoted four elegant plates, of twenty-five 

 figures each, or one hundred figures in all, to the illustration of the well- 

 known Helix [Campylcea) planospira. Lam., and its varieties, the 

 species 7J2«6e5ce?i5, casertana, depilata, setulosa, calabrica, neapolitana 

 and cassineiisis which have been founded upon it, and which are here 



