28 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vii. 



the town. In the waste heaps on the sides of the clay pits opened 

 for this purpose, lie numbers of the shells of large snails which 

 have buried themselves in the clay to remain during the dry 

 season. 



The land shells of Cuba and indeed of the West Indies gener- 

 ally, are of great interest to the naturalist ; not only on account 

 of the profusion in w^hich they occur, but also from the great 

 numbers of species and genera, and the very peculiar forms of 

 some of them. Among the tropical snails, some like Helix Im- 

 perator and H. Sagamore rival in the solidity of their shells the 

 stony gasteropods of the ocean : many shells of the genera Pupa, 

 Cyllndrella, Cydostoma, Chondropoma and Trochatclla are 

 liighly colored and strongly marked, like the ocean snails. One 

 Cylindrella has straightened out its last coil in the manner of 

 Magilus, a marine form of the Indian Ocean ; while Glaiidina 

 and Oleacina will pass for papery olive shells. The "agate 

 shells" (^Achatina) are the giant pulmonates of Cuba and carry 

 on their backs shells which are elegantly formed, prettily marked 

 and of large size. I give here a list of a few species met with 

 when collecting Post-pliocene shells near Cienfuegos, for the 

 names of which I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Bland of New 

 York, to whose article on the land shells of the "West Indies I 

 shall have occasion to refer further on : — Helix auricoma, Fer. ; 

 this species is quite abundant and shews considerable variation ; 

 H. Bonplandii, Lam ; H. Poeyi, (young) ; H. Cuhensis, Pfr. ; 

 Acliatina fasciata, Muhl, in several varieties, nearly as common 

 as H. auricoma ; Cisula inculta, d'Orb; Helicina adspersa, 

 Pfr. ; H. suhiJiaj-ginata, Gray ; Oleacina solidida, Pfr. ; Glan- 

 dina, sp. 



The Damuji has a number of estuary shells, including a small 

 species of oyster, multitudes of which cling to the roots and 

 trunks of the mangroves ; also Cerifhidium, sp. ; Melamjyus coni- 

 formis ? Balanus, sp., and Mytilits, sp. The shells of Cerithidium 

 and MytiJus were found in small numbers in a fresh pond at the 

 mouth of Labarinto brook in company with Planorhis, 4 sp. ; 

 Physa, sp. ; Valvata, sp. ; the fresh-water cerite (^Cerithidimn) is 

 an amphibious animal, climbing on trees, and may have crawled 

 over the low bank which divides this pond from the river. 



On both sides of the Damuji, a series of strata are exposed, 

 consisting chiefly of limestones, but apparently separated into 

 two bands by an intermediate body of sandstones. The series as 



