382 PROCEEDINGS OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



umbilicus wide; whorls 3h ; colour, uniform rich pale brown. 

 Sculpture as in preceding species, but the lamellse more distant 

 and sharpl}^ defined with clearly marked minor threads, four to six 

 between, and cross scratches obsolete ; the lamellae number less than 

 twenty-five on the penultimate, and less than thirty on the last 

 whorl. The aperture somewhat more quadrate than in the preceding 

 species, whilst the umbilicus is slightly narrower ; compared with 

 the above it is flatter, paler, and more sharply sculptured. Diam. 

 max. 2'1, min. 1"9 mm.; alt. 1"1 mm. 



Hab. — Sunday Island, Kermadec Group. Living under stones, 

 wood, and dead leaves on the ground. 



Genus Fi-AMMULiNA, Martens. 

 Flammulina, Martens, Critical List, New Zealand Mollusca, 1873,p. 12. 



Type (by subsequent designation by Suter), Helix compressivoluta, 

 Reeve. 



Pilsbry divided his family Endodontidae into two genera, Endodonta 

 and Flammulina, the former being possessed of no caudal mucous 

 pore, such being present in the latter. Mr. Suter, to whom Pilsbry 

 was most indebted for his knowledge of tlie New Zealand molluscan 

 fauna, had, however, issued the warning (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 

 vol. xiii, p. 64, 1894) : " I do not attach very great importance to the 

 presence or absence of the caudal gland, as we really do not know its 

 true significance." 



Subsequently Suter, in the Index Faxmce Nov(B Zealandice, 1904, 

 p. 62, retained his own family Phenacohelicidse, including as genera (?) 

 Flamnmlina, Suteria, Phenacohelix, Thcrasia, Pyrrha, Allodiscus, 

 Gerontia, Cart/ma, Thalassohelix, and Phacussa. 



Hedley in recent papers seems to have utilized Flammulina in the 

 Pilsbryan sense, but there seems to be ample room for subdivision 

 from a criticism of the species he has allotted to Allodisais, for 

 instance, in the Tasmanian fauna. 



The type of Flamnmlina is characterized by few w^horls, somewhat 

 rapidly increasing, and an oblique mouth, whose breadth is greater 

 than its depth. Whatever sculpture is present is fine, and the 

 costulse are more or less evanescent in similarly shaped shells. According 

 to Suter the jaw is characteristic. 



A more scientific treatment would be the recognition of a family 

 Flammulinidae, and then the sections would be raised to the rank of 

 genei'a and the relationships of the species denoted by means of these 

 generic names. Thus Hedley in his recent Index to the Land Shells 

 of Victoria — written in conjunction with Cox, but the classification 

 would seem to be referable to Hedley — has included species of 

 Flammulina, but the figures of F. Fordei, Brazier (Mem. Nat. Mus. 

 Melb., No. 4, pi. ii, figs. 13-15, 1912), F. elene&cens. Cox & Hedley 

 (ibid., pi. iii, figs. 16-18), and F. meraca, Cox & Hedley (ibid., 

 pi. iii, figs. 19-21), portray shells having very different shell 

 characters. If these had been placed in different genera we might 

 have had a clue to their relationship other than that afforded 

 in the description, without the examination of all recorded species 



