SuTEK. — On N.Z. Land and Frcsh-icater Molluscs. 9o 



Tho Ilijdrohiidce, to which our molhisc belongs, avo recorded 

 iis being oviparous, but P. corolla makes an exception to the 

 rule, thus showing a relation to the families of the Mclaniidce 

 and PaludinidcB, of which Paludina is ovo-viviparous. In 

 Switzerland I kept Paludina fasciata for a long time in my 

 aquarium, and many times observed the expulsion of the large 

 white eggs from the female animal. They burst a short time 

 afterwards, expelling the young animals in a milky liquid. 

 Such is not the case with our P. corolla, but it is strictly vivi- 

 parous, as the Melaniidce, are. The young, one-day-old shell 

 (PI. XVIII. , fig. 13, a, b, c) has, of course, quite a different form 

 from tliat of the adult. It is globular, vitrinous, consisting of 

 one whorl only, which shows some fine growth-lines near the 

 aperture. The greatest diameter is 0-02in. (0-5mni.). The 

 operculum is distinctly visible when the animal is extended 

 out of the shell ; it is vitrinous also. The animal, except the 

 liver, is white, showing the black eyes on very short stalks, 

 the rostrum, and the tentacles, which are much shorter and 

 stouter in proportion than in the adult animal. 



I hope to be able to continue relative observations on tlie 

 other species of PotaynojJl/rgus next spring. 



Psyra godeti, milii (infested bv Trematodes). Plate XVII., 

 fig. 9. 



It is a well-known fact that molluscs are sometimes infested 

 by parasites, but up to the present those of the land-molluscs, 

 being of greater scarcity, are not much known. Baudon men- 

 tions a sporocyst, Le^Lcocliloridium inxradoxum, as being found 

 in the large tentacles of Succinca, which is transformed in 

 different birds, who feed on Succinea, into Distoma macrostoma. 

 Dujardir has found several species of Distoma in the intestines 

 of Helices and Limaces. 



When dissecting a specimen of Psyra godeti, from Sealy 

 Eange, I found in the abdomen about twenty very small tre- 

 matodes of a whitish colour. A closer examination showed 

 this animal to be a Distoma (PI. XVII., fig. 9) of a lanceolate 

 form, faintly horny under the microscope, with a central cup, 

 about 008in. (2mm.) long and 0-02in. (O'omm.) broad. For 

 want of literature I am unable to say v.-hether it is a new 

 species or not, but I think the fact of a Distoma living in a 

 New Zealand Helix is now recorded for the first time. Further 

 investigations in this dii'ection might furnish some very in- 

 teresting results. 



In my last paper on " New Species of New Zealand Land 

 and Fresh-water Shells " I proposed the name of Huttonella to 

 be given to a group including Helix leioda, Plutt., ■pscudolcioda, 



