250 Mr. L. Reeve on the Geographical Distribution of the Bulimi. 



At the eastern limit of this province in the British Isles and at 

 the western limit in the Meia-co-shimah Isles, the shell is of the 

 same form, substance and colour. The shell of the Caucasian 

 Bulimus is small, mostly white or dusky brown, sometimes con- 

 voluted siuistrally, and partakes very much of the character of 

 Pupa, which is the predominant genus of this district. At the 

 north-western extremity of the Caucasian province the genus is 

 represented in the British Isles, Germany, France, Spain, and 

 Portugal by the small B. obscurus, montanus and acutus. The first 

 of these extends to South Sweden, fifteen to twenty degrees nearer 

 the Arctic Circle than in the new world, agreeably with the curve 

 of Humboldt's isothermal lines in that direction, and confirms the 

 warmer comparative temperature of this portion of the eastern 

 hemisphere. In B. ventrosus and decollatus the genus obtains a 

 more southern range, extending into Sicily and the Canary Islands. 

 The Bulimi of the Canary Islands are, however, for the most part 

 indigenous. Of the following species inhabiting this group, B. 

 variatus, Moquinianus, obesatus, baticaius, Bertheloti, subdiapha- 

 nus, only the last is found in any other locality, the Cape de Verd 

 Islands. No Canary Island Bulimus has been collected in Por- 

 tugal, Spain or Sicily, but a species has been found to range 

 along with B. barbarus, rupestris, and Bergeri over Greece and 

 the eastern islands of the Mediterranean to Algeria and the 

 borders of Egypt. B. detritus, subtilis, and quinquedentatus may 

 be noted as belonging more especially to Austria and Central 

 Europe, and B. Varnensis, Frivaldshji, and Chersonesicus to 

 Turkey and the Crimea. Towards the vicinity of the Caucasus 

 the Bulimi are more numerous, of larger and more solid growth 

 and more divided into groups. Owing to the dry juiceless thorny 

 character of the vegetation, their habits difi^er from those of the 

 humid and woody countries of intertropical America. Their 

 shells are comparatively small with little colouring matter or 

 epidermis, and they live under stones or blocks of wood, or 

 suspended for a long season in a state of torpidity from the 

 shrubs. The difference between the shell of the Caucasian and 

 that of the Malayan or Venezuelan Bulimi is very characteristic 

 of the physical conditions with which the animal is surrounded 

 in each instance. B. labrosus, labiosus, Alepi, Syriacus, and 

 Ehrenbergi are true Caucasian types. In B. Spraitii and Lycicus 

 the shell has a light and ventricose growth, but in B. spoliatus, 

 zebriolus, and Tournefortianus it has an elongated P«;j«-likc 

 form. 



Passing the south-western countries of Asia we find no species 

 of Bulimus recorded from any locality between Syria and Afghan- 

 istan. Of the terrestrial conchology of Persia, Tartary and 

 Beloochistan, nothing is at present known, and very little of that 



