306 Mr. E. L. Layard's Rambles in Ceylon. 



reddish zone, is common about Caltura and the Pasdoom Cbrle, Kandy 

 and Matelle ; — the white variety ' ' with the dark zone, in the high tree 

 jungle about the central road, crawling on decaying leaves in moist 

 situations; — the little uniform brown variety'* with the zone very 

 faint, only under one large banian-tree in the Academy Gardens at 

 Colombo. Similar as these varieties are, I should not wonder if they 

 are all distinct, the smaller variety in particular ; this never exceeds 

 half an inch in diameter, whereas the others often attain to one inch. 

 [See Note A. at the end of the paper.] 



The next we come to is C. involvulus ; this exists in myriads at 

 Galle, under cocoa-nut and other umbrageous trees, generally buried 

 beneath the soil or dead leaves '3. 



We have a distinct species, or else a strongly marked variety of 

 this, near Pt. Pedro, in a curious cave at Tondemanaar'*. It seldom 

 has the protruding lip of involvulus, but in most instances the peri- 

 treme is simple : I have examples in which the lip is decidedly re- 

 flected, as in some specimens received from Chittagaon, and marked 

 C. indicuin^^. [See Note B.] 



The cave variety is altogether a lighter-built shell than that from 

 Galle ; it is more finely striated, and its colours darker and more 

 blended together. The white band so conspicuous on the underside 

 oi involvulus is wanting, the black band fading off to a yellowish 

 brown. The aperture is yellow, whereas in the Galle specimen it is 

 pink. Foimd under large stones and the crevices of rock, in the 

 Tondemanaar cave. I should not omit to mention, I have a specimen 

 from Galle nearly quite white, aperture pink as usual. 



The next species we come to is C ceylanicum '^. I leave better 

 judges than myself to determine whether this is separable from the 

 last. I can but bear testimony to its being found in widely-different 

 localities, being in fact confined to the hills. There is a nearly white 

 variety of this also. 



The opercula of involvulus and ceylanicum are multispiral, the last 

 layer diminishing so as to form a circle. I have three more of this 

 turbiniform group of Cyclostoma : one from Pt. Pedro, found after 

 rain on the trunks of palmirah trees. This, Mr. Cuming writes me 

 word, is a new species". It maybe briefly described thus : Diameter 

 3 lines, axis 4^ lines ; umbilicus open ; whorls much rounded, mi- 

 nutely striated ; spire rather long, subacute ; peritreme simple ; oper- 

 culum roimd, multispiral, corneous, retractile. The colour varies 



'* This appears to be a mere variety of Itieri. 



" This is Cycl. (Aulopoma) Helicinum, Chemnitz, as defined by Pfeiffer. 



'^ The Galle species is C. Menkeanum, Philippi. 



'■* The Tondemanaar species is C. involvulus, Miill. 



^' The Chittagaon species is Cycl. Bensoni, Pfr., of which the habitat was 

 previously unknown. It comes from the N.E. angle of the Bay of Bengal, 

 near the Mogna mouth of the Ganges and Burhampooter. 



"' Cycl. ceylanicum, Pfr., which, with a curious white variety, is in the 

 collection, is perfectly distinct from the Tondemanaai" shell. 



'^ A large and finely coloured variety of C. {Leptopoma) halophilum, 

 Bens. 



