414 LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS OF N. A. [PART IV. 



Habitat. — Coosa Rivei, Shelby County, Alabama. 



l)ia::ictci. -38; length, -44 ot an inch. 



Observations. — 1 have three specimens before me ol this very beau- 

 tiful species. While it has much resemblance to the rounded varieties 

 Ol that protean species, prarosa, Say, it may be distinguished by its 

 being still more globose than its most globose varieties, by its del- 

 icacy, smoothness and brilliancy. Dr. S. says in his letter that he 

 thinks it decidedly distinct from all others he has out of many thou- 

 sands, and that " it is more rotund than any other." The largest 

 specimen is four-fifths of an inch long, has four well-marked, con- 

 tinuous bands, with rows of maculation between them. The middle- 

 aged specimen is quite saffron, has the same number of bands with 

 the rows of maculation, but these bands are somewhat broken up, 

 and the maculations are not so regular. In the third, the youngest 

 one, the maculations are almost entirelj'' absent. The largest speci- 

 men has a number of impressed, revolving lines, stronger towards 



the base. The description of the operculum is 

 Fig. 826. Fig. S27. 



made from the middle-aged, the only one which 



accompanied the three, and in the older ones this 



may differ much. In all the specimens before rae, 



the upper whorls are almost entirely covered by 



the last one. In the full grown one, the deep 



color of the upper band on the inside continues over on to the callus 



of the columella. Two other specimens accompanying these are 



considered by Dr. S. to be the same. They are apparently about 



half-grown. They differ slightly in form, and totally in the colored 



bands, which in these specimens are replaced over the whole surface 



with oblong maculations which, at the upper portion of the whorl, 



run together, and form an irregular, longitudinal band between low 



plications. I have been disposed to think that these two specimens 



may prove to be varieties of p/c<a, Conrad, which puts on so many 



various kinds of bauds, but the form is more globose than sa\y picta 



I have seen. The aperture is nearly the whole of the length of the 



shell. Two adult specimens, received since the above was written, 



have coarse, transverse striae and one is without any colored bands, 



the whole surface being a yellowish horn-color. The aperture is 



about five-sixths the length of the shell. — Lea. 



