166 Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 



Specimens collected quite recently prove that this elongate race has 

 retained its somewhat specialised form for over 25 years ; an average adult 

 shell measures 145x72 mm., as against 98x76 mm. of typical examples 

 from Natal. 



Genus Achatina Lamarck, 1799. 

 Achatina panthera (Fer.), 1821. 



1821. Helix {Cochlitoma) panthera Fer., Tabl. Syst. Moll., pt. 3, p. 53 

 (or 49). 



1846. Achatina lamarckiana Pfr., P.Z.S., p. 115. D. 



1851. „ panthera Fer., Desh., Hist. Nat. Moll, ii, 2, p. 159, 

 pi. 126, figs. 1-2 ; pi. 132, figs. 1-2. D.F. 



1892-3. Achatina mossamhica Brancsik, Jahresh. Naturw. Ver. Trenc. 

 Com., p. 116, pi. 6, fig. 2 ; pi. 10, fig. 2. D.A.R. 



1894. Achatina lechaptoisi Ancey, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. vii, p. 220. D. 



Hah. Mozambique (Kirk ; Gibbons ; mossamhica, Frey ; lechaptoisi, 

 Layard) ; Querimba I. (Peters) ; Quilimane (Stuhlmann). 



L. Marquks. Tette (Peters ; Kirk) ; Inhambane (Gibbons ; Bowker) ; 

 Rikatla (Junod) ; Andrada (Vasse) ; Amatongas (Arnold) ; Chinde (Miss 

 L. Staunton) ; Headwaters of R. Tristao, Macequece District (Cressy). 



Pilsbry (Monograph, xvii, 1904, p. 41, etc.) points out that A. lechaptoisi 

 is identical with mossamhica, and places both in the synonymy of panthera. 

 A detailed account of the anatomy of this species by Wiegmann will be 

 found in Mitth. Zool. Samml. Mus. Nat. Hist. Berlin, i, 1898, p. 85, pi. 4, 

 figs. 5-6. Its shell is normally the well-known obese form, usually found 

 along the coast, with blotchy brown and yellow markings and roseate 

 columella, but further inland it is subject to extreme variation in contour, 

 some individuals from Macequece being very much like the coastal race, 

 while others are smaller and more slender, closely resembling the specimen 

 figured by Smith (P.Z.S., 1899, pi. 34, fig. 1). This may be near the var. 

 minor mentioned by Junod (Bull. Soc. Vaudoise, xxxv, p. 278) which I have 

 not seen. 



Some of the shells from the neighbourhood of Delagoa Bay tend to 

 resemble those of Achatina immaculata Lam., for which they have some- 

 times been mistaken, and from which they scarcely differ except in usually 

 having more distinct dark streaks. Nevertheless the anatomy of a large 

 specimen from the Rikatla district, Delagoa Bay, has been found to agree 

 closely with that of the most slender example from Macequece and the 

 radulae of both these specimens closely resemble Wiegmann's figure. On 

 the other hand, the radulae of two specimens of A. immaculata from Zout- 

 pansberg, in the northern Transvaal, differ slightly from those just men- 



