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THE HELICOID LA.ND SHELLS OF THE FIJI ISLANDS, WITH 

 DEFINITIONS OF THREE NEW GENERA AND DESCRIPTIONS 

 OF FOUR NEW SPECIES. 



By G. K. GuDE, F.Z.S. 



Read 11th April, 1913. 



(PLATE XIV.) 



An interesting- little collection of Helicoids from the Fiji Islands 

 has been kindly placed in my hands for identification by Mr. Jolm 

 Fonsonby. They were collected by his son, Mr. Richard Ponsouby, 

 during a temporarj- residence in that group of islands, and although 

 there appears to be only one undescribed form among them, several 

 of the older species, which have hitherto remained rare in collections, 

 have now fortunately been rediscovered. It is also of interest having 

 to record the presence in those islands of two Oriental species — 

 doubtless introduced with living plants — viz. Hemiplecta striata, (Gray), 

 a Tuitive of the Malay Peninsula, and Eulota simiiaris {F&r.), believed 

 to be indigenous in China, but at present found in many parts, not 

 only of the old, but also of the new world. It is believed to owe its 

 present wide distribution to the fact that it has been carried with the 

 soil attached to coffee plants. My own records cover tlie following 

 localities: Asia — China and Formosa, Japan, Siam, Cochin-China, 

 Penang, Perak, Singapore, Java, Celebes, Philippine Islands, India, 

 Burma, Ceylon ; Austi'alia — New South Wales ; Pacific — Sandwich 

 Islands; Africa — Natal, the Seychelles, Comoros, and the islands of 

 Rodriguez,Mauritius, Bourbon, Madagascar, and Ascension; America — 

 Bermuda, Cuba, Barbados, Brazil, and Argentina. 



In comparing Mr. Ponsonby's shells with those in the Natural 

 History Museum, I came across a considerable quantity of unnamed 

 material collected in the Fiji Islands by the officers of H.M.S. Herald 

 (MacGillivray, Rayner, and McDonald) between 1854 and 1857, 

 and presented to the Museum by the Admiralty. Mr. E. A. Smith, 

 the Assistant-Keeper of Zoology, having with his unvarying courtesy 

 placed these at my disposal, I have considered this a fitting opportunity 

 of working out these shells at the same time. This collection yielded 

 four undescribed species — one of them co-specific with the one found 

 by Mr. Richard Ponsonby — three of which I refer to the genus Fretum, 

 while the fourth does not appear to be referable to any known genus, 

 and I am therefore obliged to create a new genus for its reception. 



FiJiA, nov. gen. 



Shell discoid, umbilicated, thin, pellucid ; the later whorls costulate, 

 decussated by spiral sulci. 



Type: F. Macgillivrayi, Gudc. 



Three other species {Clayi, Barkaxi, and Samoensis) do not appear 

 to assimilate Avith any otlier Zonitoids, and for these I propose — 



