1920.] N. Annandai^k & B. Prashad : Ennea hicolor {Hittton). 193 



latter half of June, 1920. The snails were taken on a low flight of 

 stone steps leading to a bungalow. They emerged in wet \veather, 

 and especially on damp evenings, from the interstices of the 

 stone-work and the earth at its base. The largest number of 

 individuals we saw on any one evening was half a dozen. The 

 Ennea was accompanied, in much larger numbers, bj" an Opeas, 

 which Col. God win- Austen ' has identified provisionally as 0. graci- 

 lis (Hutton). The Ennea was evidently pre^'ing upon the Opeas, 

 for we found one or two individuals of the former attached to the 

 foot of individuals of the Opeas. The attack, however, was b}- no 

 means vigorous and we could discover ver}- few fresh empty shells. 

 Probably this was due to the fact that the carnivorous species 

 was just recovering from its hot-weather aestivation. Godwin- 

 Austen in the " Fauna ' ' records another instance of the association 

 of the two species, observed b}^ Mr. Collet on the sea-wall at 

 Galle, Ceylon. Semper also found E. hicolor in the Philippines 

 preying on a form of 0. gracilis} 



It would, appear, therefore that these two species (both of which 

 are remarkable for their wide distribution and are often found in 

 India in places where pot-plants are kept) or closely alhed forms 

 habitually occur together. OnBarkuda the vegetarian snail is, as 

 might be expected, very much the more abundant of the two. As 

 Godwin-Austen points out in the "Fauna," there is a certain 

 resemblance between the shells, and this is also so with the animals ; 

 but they are readily distinguished in life by the scarlet markings 

 of the Ennea. These are entirely absent in the Opeas, the mantle 

 and exposed parts of which are of a uniform bright yellow colour. 



The resemblance between the gutter produced b}^ the internal 

 folds of the shell in Ennea and Clausilia^ is very close and must be 

 entirely'' convergent. There is, of course, no clausilium in Ennea 

 and the origin of the two main folds is slightly different in the two 

 genera. Moreover, supplementary palatal plicae are absent in 

 Ennea, as are oral teeth in Clausilia. In other words, the inter- 

 nal armature has become exceedingly complex in Clausilia, 

 doubtless in correlation with the production of the clausilium, 

 while in Ennea the external armature is better developed. In the 

 latter genus the armature does not suffice to close the shell 

 completely when the animal is retracted, but seems rather to 

 protect the more important external parts of the body in the act of 

 and on the completion of expansion. This may perhaps be useful 

 to a carnivorous animal which burrows into soft tissues and 

 mucus while feeding, at any rate so far as the upper sinus and the 

 pulmonary orifice are concerned. The walls of the gutter between 



^ Rec. Ind. Jllus. XIII, p. 351 (191 7). Col. Godwin-Austen informs us that 

 he proposes to describe this form shortly as a new species. 



^ Semper, loc. cit. pp. 137-138, where the species is referred to as Stenogyra 

 panayensis ; on pi. viii, fig. 15, Semper calls it Siibulina panayensis ; for syn- 

 onym see Gude, Faun. Brit. Ind. Moll. II, pp. 355, 357 (1914). 



The association of the two species is referred to by Semper on p. 250. 



s Smith and Woodward, Anti. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) V, pp. 20Q-213, pi. \i, A 

 (1890). 



