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NOTES ON INDIAN AND CEYLONESE SPECIES OF GLESSULA. 

 By Colonel R. H. Beddome, F.L.S. 

 Read Uth May, 1906. 

 PLATE XV. 

 Having collected the subgenus Glessula very largely throughout 

 South India (its headquarters) and Ceylon, and having recently com- 

 pared my collection with the types in the late Dr. "W. T. Blanford's 

 collection, now bequeathed to the Natural History Museum, and with 

 the Benson types in the Cambridge Museum, and the species in the 

 Natural History Museum, I have drawn up the following notes 

 which I think may be of interest to conchologists and aid towards 

 a monograph. 



It is an exceedingly difficult group, the species running very much 

 one into another, and there are not many distinctive characters to lay 

 hold of. The apical whorls and the sculpture are the chief, but the 

 size of the adult generally, though not always, and the curvature of 

 the columella are of some importance. The truncation of the latter 

 I do not attach much importance to, as it is very similar in all the 

 species. The number of whorls differs in individuals, but always 

 within certain limits. 



The earlier species were described as Achatince, A. nitens of Gray 

 being the first in 1825. Pfeiffer described about 12, Benson 28, and 

 Blantbrd 18, and a few have been described by Hanley, Lieut. -Col. 

 Godwin- Austen, and G. Nevill, one each by H. Adams, Mollendoi-ff, 

 and Jousseaume, and one from Ceylon by Mr. Sykes. The earlier 

 authors probably never had access to each other's types, and I believe 

 too many species have been made. 



1. Glessula tenitispiea (Benson). 

 Achatina tenuispira, Benson: Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. v (1835), 

 p. 353. 



Hah. — Darjiling ; Pegu ; N. Canara ; Khasia and Dafla Hills. 



Peeve' s figure is from a small or young shell. Full-grown ones 

 collected in the Teesta Valley near Darjiling, and in N. Canara, 

 measure 44 mm. in length, and have 14 whorls. 



2. Glessula baculina, Blanford. 

 Glessula laculina, Blanford : Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. xl (1871), 

 pi. ii, fig. 6. 

 Hah. — Khui-siang, near Darjiling. 



This is, I believe, only a more slender form of tenuispira, as I have 

 specimens intermediate in breadth. As to any difference in the 

 columella, some of my specimens of tenuispira have the lower part 

 more bent than in any of the supposed hacuUna. 



3. Glessula pertenuis (Blanford). 

 Achatina pertenuis, Blanford : Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. xxxiv 

 (1865), p. 79. 

 Hah. — Assam ; Arakan j Garo and Naga Hills ; Burma. 



