O I.ANB AND FRESHWATEK 



sjiecies possessiiip; the comb-]il;e ii])])eiK]ag;e to the penis (flagellum). 

 Unfortunately, up to date l!M!i the animal of a true Bai-ilhim has 

 never been obtained, never even seen alive. Still 1 am inelinid to 

 think this genus comes in close to Glessuhi, in fact far closer than 

 does Curvella or Baiyalus. The comb-like flagellum (PI. CLXV. 

 fig. 2 c) is replaced by a short, pointed, simple one (PI. CLXV. 

 tig. 1 a), while in a Ceylon species it is massive, with an in- 

 distinctly tripartite outline (PL CLXV. fig. 7 «,/.). 



Distribution. — The absence of Glessiila in the North-West 

 Himalaya and the Punjab is very remarkable, viz. from all the 

 old valleys of the Punjab Rivers and the Ganges. Whether this 

 feature extends to the Kali River and through Nepal to its eastern 

 boundary, the valley of the Tambur, which Sir Joseph Hooker was 

 the first to explore and describe, has to be discovered when that 

 country becomes better known and is collected in. 



The only exception to the above distribution is the reported 

 occurrence of one species, 0. hmieVi Pfr. in Kashmir. I have never 

 seen or heard of its being found there ; I was always collecting, 

 and no man in my time saw so much of Kashmir Territory 

 than I did. 1 am incliued to be sceptical, for Kashmir has been 

 fairly collected in by zoologists such as Stoliczka and Theobald, 

 who were not likely to miss finding so large and conspicuous 

 a shell, 37 mm. in length. 



Mr. Gude says (p. 3S7) : — "When first described, its origin 

 was unknown. Kashmir was first given as its habitat by Hanley 

 and Theobald. The species is allied to Glessula cliessoni, but 

 more solid iu texture. The Cuming Collection contains throe 

 specimens from Kashmir, with a label in Pfeifter's hand-wriiing." 



It is, moreover, on the authority of Hanley and Theobald, 

 Conch. Indica, p. 33 ; this means " Hanley," who had little regai'd 

 for Geographical distribution. I saw a good deal of Hanley 

 about 1869. He never grasped the enormous size of India : 

 how different is the climate on its north and south, its vast 

 plains and mountains. Consequently I am led to think, on 

 learning that von Hiigel had visited Kashmir, any shell con- 

 nected with him Hanley assumed from that i)art of India. 



With Eastern Nepal a great change takes place in the orography 

 of the Himalays ; the most elevated peaks, Mt. Everest among 

 them, lie parallel to the plains at about 80 miles distant, and a 

 chain glaciated and covered with snow is continuous for 500 miles 

 as far as the Kali River. This must affect, even at the present day, 

 the temperature of the valley's draining to the plains, and surely 

 wiuild have sufficed during the Glacial period to limit the Land 

 Mollusca to the base of the hills, from which many species would 

 never have returned or survived the change. It produced con- 

 ditions thus far to the East similar, but on a small scale, to 

 the disturbance of the fauna and flora in Europe caused by 

 intense cold. Proceeding to the N.W. to the latitude of Kashmir, 

 these conditions would have been intensified, for enormous glaciers 

 40 miles long once filled the main valleys. 



The genus rangts all over Peninsular India, is more abundant 



