313 



NOTES ON AOHATINA DENNISONI, REEVE, AND A. MAGNIFICA, 

 PFEIFFER. 



By Edgar A. Smith, I.S.O. 



Read 10th May, 1907. 



A FINE scries of specimens of Achatina Bennisoni have lately been 

 submitted to me for identification. They were collected near Quilichao, 

 Cauca Valley, Colombia, at 5,500 feet, by Messrs. Paine Sc Brinkley. 

 It is a species figured and described by Keeve which has apparently 

 been entirely overlooked by Professor ]?ilsbry, both in his monograph 

 of Bulimulidse and that of the Achatinidae. 



A small specimen of this species has been erroneously figured by 

 Eeeve as the Achatina magnijica of Pfeiffer. 



A comparison of his description and figure of the latter with the 

 type of that species in the Cuming Collection at once shows that the 

 shell he had before him is distinct from that originally described by 

 Pfeiffer. The latter is a thin, smooth shell, with very different 

 coloration, and said to come from Ecuador. Reeve's shell, from the 

 Dennison Collection, was described as rather rough, obscurely finely 

 plicated, and, judging from the figure of it, was coloured like most of 

 the specimens in the series before me. The yellow zones on the body- 

 whorl, and the corresponding white bands within the aperture, are 

 very characteristic. 



The type of A. Bennisoni, although of full size, appears to have 

 been rather immature, judging from the thinness of the outer lip, and 

 although it lacks the characteristic black columellar callus, the pale 

 zones within the aperture are indicated in the figure. The lip of 

 Reeve's A. magnijica is described as " edged with vermilion." This 

 also applies to all the shells just received. Some of them have the 

 three yellow zones on the body-whorl, as depicted by Reeve (fig. 33), 

 whereas others are of the uniform brownish tint shown in fig. 32, 

 with just a trace of the " pale obscure band " at the periphery 

 mentioned by Reeve as occurring m his species {Bennisoni). 



Although the forms of the two shells, depicted by the figures 

 referred to, are very different, the one being more elongate, with 

 a more acuminate spire, I find in the series of specimens at hand quite 

 as much variation. 



The Liguus {Hemihulinius) excisus, Martens, from Popayan, Colombia, 

 seems to me sufiicieutly distinct to constitute a well-marked variety, 

 although considered by Pilsbry the same as Reeve's A. magnijica. 

 It is a much smaller form and quite different in outline, and its apex 

 is described as "minutim granulosus," whereas in the present species 

 (Bennisoni) it is perfectly smooth and shining. Moreover, neither in 

 the description nor figure is any trace indicated of the yellow zones 

 upon the body-whorl or the pale ones within the aperture. 



The synonymy of this species will stand thus : — 



