434 A MANUAL OF AMERICAN LAND SHELL^. 



ban specimens may be noticed among the Florida shells; but there is 

 one well-defined variety which, so far as we know, is peculiar to Flor- 

 ida. This variety is longer and less ventricose than the others, and its 

 aperture is less ample. Upon a ground of pure white it is marked 

 upon the body-whorl, and above and below the sutures, with broad, 

 ill-defined, pale-yellow bands. The apex and aperture are always 

 white. The yellow bands are sometimes confluent or nearly so, and 

 the yellow color appears to be diffused over the whole surface ; more 

 rarely the shell is entirely white. The columella is only slightly folded 

 and the lip is not crenate. The shell is somewhat thick. The variety 

 is constant; and Mr. Say, supposing it to be a distinct species, called 

 it Achatina solida, from the last-named character. (Terr. Moll., Ill, 

 Plate LV.) 



There are two other varieties existing also in Florida specimens, 

 which are well marked. The first (Plate LYII) is distinguished by 

 grass-green lines, more or less numerous and of greater or less diame- 

 ter, and by narrow bands of the same color, revolving upon a white 

 gTOund. They are more numerous and more distinct upon the body- 

 whorl, and become almost obliterated on the posterior whorls; they are 

 often undulating and differ in the intensity of the color. The peri- 

 stome, at the points where the lines terminate, is crenate or notched, 

 which peculiarity has suggested one of the synonymes of the species. 

 The axis is usually shorter than in the preceding variety, and conse- 

 quently the body- whorl and aperture are larger in proportion to the 

 whole magnitude of the shell; the columella is also more folded aud 

 thickened. The aperture is white. The other variety is marked by 

 broad, entire or interrupted bands or blotches of deep brown. (Plate 

 LVI.) These sometimes cover nearly the whole surface; at other times 

 they are broken into irregular spots, which are arranged above and 

 below the sutures. The apex and the columellar margin are rosy; and 

 so closely connected are these two characters with the presence of the 

 brown color on the surface, that if a single spot or line of it is seen ex- 

 ternally, the columellar margin will be i)retty certainly found to be rosy. 

 The columella is more prominently folded and thickened than in either 

 of the other varieties. 



Well-characterized specimens of these three varieties differ so much 

 from each other that they might well be considered to be specifically 

 distinct; but the passage from one to the other may be readily detected 

 in some specimens. We see some retaining the wide yellow bands, 



