556 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. XXII. 



smaller. The lip is not so thin and has a deeper black border. 

 The sculpture is much coarser and blackish ^-arices can usually 

 be detected on the bodj'-whorl. This phase is abundant in the 

 swamp at the north end of the Loktak Lake 



The Pond Phase: plate VI, figs, i, 2. The shell is smaller 

 than in either of the last two phases but more variable both 

 in size and shape. It is decidedly narrower than either and has 

 the spire relatively longer, the whorls less tumid and less broadly 

 flattened above. The mouth is variable in outline but as a rule 

 is distinctly emarginate above the umbilicus. The sculpture is 

 coarse and irregular and the shell more liable to erosion on the 

 surface. This phase is found in ponds and in the smaller swamps 

 of the Manipur Valley. Many of the specimens collected by the 

 late Dr. John Anderson in Upper Burma and Yunnan also belong 

 to it. 



The Rice-field Phase. (=var. ampulliformis, Eydoux and 

 Souleyet) : plate V, fig. 4. This is a small phase in which the 

 upper part of the whorls of the shell is much less distinctly 

 flattened, the spire is relatively long and the whole shell compara- 

 tively narrow. Some specimens of the pond phase approached 

 it very closely. It is common in small pools in the rice-fields of 

 the Manipur Valley and preponderates among the specimens 

 collected by the late Dr. John Anderson in Upper Burma and 

 Yunnan. It has also been recorded from Cochin China and 

 appears to be, as might be expected, the most widely distributed 

 phase of the species. 



Habitat and Habits. — The concluding sentences of the preced- 

 ing paragraphs indicate in a general way the habitats of the 

 different phases, which are also indicated' in the names given to 

 them. There is one further point of interest to be noted, namely 

 that the rice-field phase is peculiarly resistant to desiccation. 

 A specimen was found in dry mud in February and brought to 

 Calcutta dry. In cleaning the shell more than a month later the 

 operculum was removed and the animal found to be in a perfectly 

 fresh condition though quite immobile and apparently insensible.' 

 It was accidently left for the night in a dish of water and gave 

 birth to a number of living young. It survived itself for several 

 days, in spite of the removal of its operculum, but, probably on 

 account of its injuries, did not regain sensibiHty. 



No other noteworthy difference was observed between the 

 habits of this species and those of Vivipara bengalensis and its 

 allies. 



The shells from Upper Burma and Tenasserim called Paludina 

 siamensis var. burnianica by Nevill are merely young specimens of 

 this species, as is evident from a direct comparison and from an 



' This condition of this mollusc was apparently the same as that of a 

 specimen of Pseudovivipara Iivpocrites examined after being dry two years and 

 after a journey from China to Calcutta and from Calcutta to England and back. 

 See Mem. As. Soc. Bengal VI, p. 312. 



