SOPHIJiTA. 285 



fig. 87). The sperinatheca is globular at the free end, but on a 

 strong thick base. The vas deferens is given off from a bulbous 

 expansion of the penis-tube close below the junction of the thick 

 strong retractor muscle. The shaft of the male organ to the 

 generative aperture is peculiarly long. The amatorial organ is 

 short and thick with well-developed pointed papilla. 



"The jaw of calias is broadly semilunar, thin, apparently smooth, 

 but when moderately enlarged and viewed in transparent light a 

 distinct concentric striation is percej^tible, and there are some very 

 minute radiating lines to be observed near the middle part. 



" The radula is elongately quadrangular, consisting of about 35 

 to 50 transverse rows of teeth, meeting at sharp angles in the 

 middle line ; there are about 80-100 teeth in each row. They are 

 all of a similar shape, pyramidal, sharply pointed and attenuated 

 in the front, gradually becoming wider and terminating with an 

 obtusely rounded base. The middle tooth is slightly contracted 

 below tlie middle, it is symmetrical ; the laterals are gradually more 

 bent outwards on either side and possess on the outer side near the 

 point a rounded and angular projection ; the angle appears to be 

 directed posteriorly ; the outermost teeth are quite simple. The 

 teeth of S. discoidalls aud conjungens are exactly similar to those 

 of calias, only comparatively smaller." (Stoliczha.) 



The genus SopJiina is perhaps the most interesting in the family 

 Zonitidse; it is the most aberrant of all I have examined. It 

 presents departure from the ordinaiy type, particularly from those 

 which the form of the shell recalls. The most striking character 

 is the radula; there is nothing approaching the peculiar simple 

 form of the teeth in any known genus of the family. Xext, the 

 large, broad, left dorsal lobe, entire for its whole length, without 

 a trace of a slit. This cliaracter is that of an old Peninsular India 

 group met with in Ariophanta {NUghiria) solata, AriopJianta 

 tranqnebarica, and with a slight slit about halfway in Xestina 

 ligulata, basileus, and chemd. The peculiar structure of the 

 columellar margin is probably due to this mantle-lobe and the large 

 left shell-lobe combined ; the latter being tongue-like and extendino- 

 far back, it would be close to and play around the umbilicus. 



With regard to the distribution of Sophina, it is an interesting 

 point whether it is the remnant of a genus at one period more 

 widely spread than it is at present along the narrow belt of the 

 Tenasserim coast, or whether it is of more recent and local develop- 

 ment. The former seems to me to be the most likely, although 

 there is no Indian genus at present known with which it can be 

 linked up. It is the associate, as Stoliczka points out, writing of 

 the physical features of Moulmein, of several very peculiar "and 

 interesting genera, which are known now to range further than 

 when be wrote. There is a large extent of country yet to be 

 explored to the northward, and species related to Sophina may be 

 looked for on the flanks of the great gneissic backbone of the 

 Malay Peninsula, and away into the Shan country and Upper 

 Burma.] 



