356 



ECUADOR, PERU, AND BOLIVIA 



The Helicidae are most abundant in the north and west, and 

 are represented by several very striking sulj-genera, some of which 

 possess remarkably toothed apertures, and perhaps betray an 

 ancestry common to some of the West Indian genera. Of these, 

 Lahyrintlivs has 12 species in Venezuela and Colombia, 5 in 

 Ecuador, and 3 in Peru and Bolivia ; Isomeria 1 2 in Venezuela 

 and Colombia, 2 in Ecuador, and 2 in Peru and Bolivia ; 

 SolarojJsis is represented in these countries by G, 3, and 7 species, 

 and Systrophia by 4, 5, and 8 species respectively. 



Clcvusilia — in the group Nenia — appears in some numbers 

 along the Andes chain, the only other representative in the New 

 World being the solitary species occurring at Porto Eico. There 

 have been described, from A^enezuela and Colombia 10 species, 

 from Ecuador 5, and from Peru and Bolivia 12. 



Another marked feature of the region is the occurrence of the 

 Orthalicidae, in the two genera Orthalicus and PorphyrolaiJlic. 

 The latter of these magnificent forms is peculiar, while the 

 former reaches Mexico, the West Indies, and Brazil. Ecuador, 

 which contains 23 species, seems the metropolis of the 

 group. 



Buliinus and Bulimulvs, the former genus being peculiar to 

 S. America and the adjacent islands, are largely 

 represented, the former in the three groups 

 Borus, Bryftiis, and Orphnas. These attain 

 their maximum in Peru, with 25 species, but 

 Venezuela and Colombia have as many as 17- 

 Bulimubis has lieen subdivided into a number 

 of groups, e.g. Brymacus, Mesembriims, Thau- 

 mastus, Mormus, Scutalus, with many others, 

 — the exact scientific limits of which are not 

 easily discernible. It must suffice here to 

 state that Peru seems to be the head-quarters 

 of the group with about 190 species (which 

 probably may well be reduced), Ecuador having 

 about 70, and Venezuela and Colombia between 

 80 and 90. 



Two very remarkalile forms belonging to the 

 Pupidae, Anostoma (Fig. 154, p. 248) and Tomi- 

 gerus, occur in Venezuela, the metropolis. Bhodea, 

 another very peculiar shell (Fig. 234), whose exact family position 



li,f^^^ 



Fig. 234. — Rhodea 

 gyjantea Moiiss. , 

 New Grenada. 



