THE STORY OF THE LAND SNAILS 343 



time of my first visit to Jamaica, Henderson and I 

 were driving out from Kingston in order to have 

 our first look about and possibly to do a little 

 collecting. In passing a low scrub forest we saw a 

 specimen of the fine Oxystyla undata attached to a 

 limb of a near-by tree. We both shouted, and in a 

 second had jumped from the vehicle and were 

 racing toward it. We rushed through a hedge of 

 villainous pinguin plants and up the tree; securing 

 the prize; we discovered the tangle of thorny scrub 

 woods were full of them. In half an hour we had 

 two hundred fine specimens. We had made a 

 fair and satisfactory exchange two perfectly good 

 suits of clothes ruined for the Oxystylas. 



In the late summer and fall these snails lay 

 their eggs, which are elliptical, about a quarter of 

 an inch long, and have a calcareous shell. They 

 come down from the trees to deposit these eggs 

 in the ground, under leaves or even in decaying 

 wood on the floor of the hammock. After the 

 laying period many of the animals die. In late 

 autumn the ground is sometimes strewed with 

 fresh, dead shells of both Oxystyla and Liguus. 

 In spring the eggs hatch and the little snails 

 at once ascend the trunks of trees, where they 



