SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



17 



has obligingly searched the British Museum collection 

 for these types, hut without success. The species 

 appears to be rare, for since it was first de- 

 scribed, it has remained unobserved until Mr. H. 

 B. I'reston found a single specimen at Patapolla, 

 Ce\lon, as recorded by Mr. E. R. Sykes 

 (" Proc. Malac. Soc, London," iii., 1898, p. 66), 

 and Mr. O. Collett subsecjuently found two 



a b 



Fig. 99. — Pleciopytis lucUiata. 



specimens at Haputale (Sykes, op. cit. p. 160). 

 The three specimens referred to agree with the 

 figures in "Conchologia Indica," audit may, therefore, 

 be safely assumed that they are correctly identified, 

 and to Mr. Sykes belongs tlie credit of first pointing 

 <nit the true systematic position of the species. The 

 shell is convexly conical, narrowly umbilicated, 

 dark corneous, translucent, finely and regularly 

 ribbed, with a double keel at the periphery and a 



third a little above it, the lowest and uppermost 

 l)eing provided with a fringe of coarse, curved, 

 deciduous hairs. There are six convex whorls, which 

 increase slowly and regularly, the base a little 

 shining, tumid around the narrow umbilicus and 

 concave towards the periphery. The aperture is sub- 

 (juadrate, elongated, the peristome simple, acute. 

 The parietal armature consists of two sin^ple obliquely 

 ascending folds, separated by a distance of half a 

 whorl, having the upper extremities somewhat 

 attenuated and the lower truncate. (See fig. gg^f', 

 which shows the parietal wall with its two folds). The 

 palatal armature is composed of: first, a short, hori- 

 zontal fold below the periphery, a little farther Ijack 

 l)ut in a line with it a strong lamelliform denticle, 

 ascending obliquely ; secondly, three denudes in a 

 line horizontally and about equidistant, the posteiior 

 one strongest ; thirdly, a short slight horizontal fold 

 near the lower suture, rising near the aperture and re- 

 volving as far as the second denticle. (See fig. 99t', 

 which shows the inside of the outer wall with the 

 palatal armature). The specimen shown in figs f^()a-c 

 measures 6 millimetres in diameter, altitude 3 "5 milli- 

 metres ; it is one of the shells collected by Mr. Collett 

 and is in Mr. Ponsonby"s collection ; the armatures are 

 figured from the specimen collected by Mr. Preston 

 which is in Mr. Sykes' collection. 



'{To l>e continucii.) 



