Records of the Indian Museum. [VOL eVEEE. 
Os 
iS) 
The operculum is regularly ovoid, bluntly pointed posteriorly 
and broadly rounded anteriorly. It is distinctly spiral, with two 
and a half whorls in the nucleus, which is situated some distance 
from the inner margin. The surface is ornamented with numerous 
lines which curve outwards from near the anterior extremity. 
In spite of its extremely wide range, from the Mediterranean 
to Australia and China, we have no evidence of the occurrence of 
this species in Baluchistan or Southern Persia. 
Melanoides pyramis (Hutton). 
(Pisiv,, aSisel 
1850. Melania pyramis (Benson), Hutton, Fourn. As. Soc. Bengal (2) 
XVIII, p. 658. 
This species is distinguished from M. tuberculata both by shell- 
characters and by constant differences in the radula. The shell 
is considerably shorter and broader, being distinctly less than three 
times as long as broad. The body-whorl is relatively large and 
much more swollen. The mouth is more than one-third as long as 
the shell, which tapers much more abruptly. 
The radula of forms we regard as varieties differs considerably 
from that of M. tuberculata in the shape of its central tooth , which 
is produced on either side in an angle, below which it is more or less 
constricted. It has a relatively large central cusp with the lateral 
cusps usually more numerous on the right side than the left. The 
lateral tooth is considerably narrower than the inner marginal. 
We have not been able to examine fresh specimens of the typical 
form of this species, but Hutton states that the form which occurs 
in marshy land at Quetta is without markings and coarse in sculp- 
ture with the apex of the spire and epidermis eroded. A few dead 
shells of this type were found in a pond in the Residency garden 
at Quetta in January rgtQ, but no living individuals could be dis- 
covered in spite of a careful search. It is probable that in cold 
districts the species burrows into mud, as Hutton (doc. cit., p. 657; 
1850) states that M. scabra var. elegans does in the same country. 
Measurements of Shells (in millimetres). 
Length pe eh OTS 24°6 
Breadth a. eels ares gl 
Length of aperture. . ct 7 sry 
Breadth of aperture he Mek: 4°5 
The shell we figure is much eroded, though the most complete we 
have examined in other respects. In a broken specimen of rather 
smaller size all the whorls but the body-whorl are ornamented with 
numerous curved longitudinal rows of from four to six tubercles 
separated by deep longitudinal grooves and divided up by narrow 
transverse striae. 
We are able to recognize no less than four distinct varieties 
of this species. 
