198 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



pusilla ii alM> represented at Fi-j. 2612, hi two 

 views, with the natural size given l>etween the two 

 figures. 



26ia— TheClausilia 

 (QauM'a Mactucaretuii). The shells of this genus, 

 les Norapareiiles of Cuvier, are slender, long, and 

 pointed ; in the adults the last whorl is contracted, 

 compressed, and somewhat detached ; the orifice is 

 complete, with a thickened rim, and often dente- 

 lated. In the narrowed whorl is generally found a 

 small sicrmoid lamina, or clausium. 



The Clausilife are of small size, and live on mossy 

 banks, or at the foot of trees. Referring to Fig. 

 2613 — a represents Clausilia Macascarensis ; b, the 

 same, broken, to show c, the Clausium. 



2614.— The Cyclostoma 



[Plaxoiibis. 



(Cyclnsloma). Dr. Fleming, and the able writer of 

 the articles on shells in the ' Penny Cycloptrdia," 

 place the genus Cyclostoma among the Helicidse, 

 but Cuvier regards it as one of the Pectinibranchiata, 

 where he also places the genus Paliidina, of which 

 the common Helix vivipara of Linnaeus, abundant 

 in our fresh waters, is an example. 



The species of the genus Cyclostoma are terres- 

 trial ; the sexes are distinct. There are two tenta- 

 cles, terminated by blunt tubercles, considered by 

 Montaeu as eyes, but the true eyes are seated upon 

 two tubercles placed at the base of the two large 

 tentacles. These mollusks inhabit warm mossy 



banks and woods. Referring to the figure 2614 



a represents the Cyclostoma involvuius; b, the 

 Cyclostoma elegans with the animal ; c, the same 

 in such a view as to show the foot. We have 

 abundant specimens of the latter shell taken on the 

 warm chalk hills covered with brushwood near 

 Caversham. close to Reading, Berkshire. It is the 

 Turbo elegans of Lister and others. 



2015. — The Pellucid Vitrina 

 iHelicoUmax pellucida). The genus Vitrina has 

 been divided by M. Fenissac into two subgenera, 

 or, as some may regard them, genera, named Heli- 

 coiiniax and Helicarion. of which the latter consists 

 of foreign species. In the former there is no termi- 

 nal mucous pore, which is present in Helicarion. 

 In other details they agree. The shell is small, 

 delicate, spiral, without an umbilicus; and in gene- 

 ral the body of the animal is too large to be entirely 

 retracted within. The tentacles are four, cylin- 

 drical and retractile ; the two upper ones ocellated 

 at their summit. These snails inhabit moist places, 

 and are generally to be found on plants under dead 

 leaves, and in the chinks and fissures of rocks. 



The Vitrina (Helicolimax) pellucida, or Helix 

 pellucida of M iiller, is a common British species, 

 and was erroneously regarded by Montagu as the 

 young of Helix lucida. The figures represent the 

 animal of the natural size, and the shell in two views 

 magnified. 



2616. — Cuviee's Helicarion 

 {Helicarion Ctivieri). In our illustration, a a 

 represent the shell of Cuvier's Helicarion in two 

 views ; and 6 is an allied species of the Helicarion 

 Freycinctti. 



2617. — The Glossy Bulinus 

 (Btilinus lubrims). The genus Bulinus (as the word 

 is written by Adanson), or Bulimus (as most natu- 

 ralists write it), is distinguished from Helix by the 

 mouth of the shell being oval ; while the shell, in- 

 stead of being more or less orbicular, has the whorls 

 drawn out or turreted ; and the reflected lip or 

 border on the right side is generally very thick. 

 The last whorl ot^en exceeds all the rest put toge- i 

 ther. The geographical distribution is very exten- 

 sive. 



The Bulinus lubricus is a minute shell, common in 

 Europe, transparent, and of a smooth shining horn 

 colour. It IS represented at a of the natural size, 

 and at b magnified. 



2018. — ^Thb Roseate Bulinus 

 {Bulinus rosaceus). a, the adult animal and shell ; 

 h, a young shell before the mouth is reflected ; the 

 moulh is represented as sealed with the parchment- 

 like metnhrane which shuts in the animal during 

 hybernation ; c, one of the egjs broken, discovering 

 a young shell ; d, an egg unbroken. 



The adult shell is roughish ; the apex and upper 

 whorls are of a rose colour in fine specimens ; the 

 other whorls brownish, mottled longitudinally with 

 dirty white ; suture crenulated ; lip white ; epider- 

 mis greenish. 



This species is found in South America; Mr. Cu- 

 ming observed numbers during the dry season ad- 

 hering to the under side of stones among bushes, 

 close lo the edge of the shore, sometimes even 

 within reach of the spray. He also met with them 

 on hills of a thousand feet above the sea, concealed 

 between the lower leaves of an aloe-like plant, on 



the honey of whose flowers the giant humming-bird 

 (Trochilus Gigas) is accustomed to feed. •' The 

 natives burn down clumps of these plants for the 

 sake of the rings at the bottom of the footstalks of 

 the leaves, which they use as buoys for their fishing- 

 nets, and for baking the coarse earthenware which 

 they make on the hills, because this part of the 

 plant when ignited throws out a great heat. Be- 

 tween these leaves the bulimi lie in the dry season 

 in a torpid state. In the spring (viz. September and 

 October) they burrow in the shady places at the 

 roots of this plant, and among the bushes on the 

 sea-shore. At this period they lay their eggs in the 

 earth, about two inches below the surface."^ During 

 their hybernation, so strong is the parchmeni-like 

 epiphragma, and so tenaciously does it adhere to 

 the stones, that the shell will often break in the 

 endeavour to detach the animal before the membrane 

 will yield. On Chili and the neighbouring coasts 

 this species is very common, and was found there 

 by Captain Philip Parker King, R.N., who pub- 

 lished m the ' Zoological Journal ' (vol. v. p. 342) 

 the following account of the remarkable power 

 which this snail pos,sesses of existing for months in a 

 dormant slate :— " Soon atUr the return of the ex- 

 pedition (his Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, 

 Survey 1826 30), my friend Mr. Broderip, to whose 

 in.spection Lieutenant Graves had submitted his 

 collection, observing symptoms of life in some of 

 the shells of this species, took means for reviving ' 

 the inhabitants from their dormant state, and sue" 

 ceeded. After they had protiiided their bodies, 

 they were placed upon some green leaves (cabbage),' 

 which they fastened upon and ate greedily. These 

 animals had been in this slate for seventeen or 

 eighteen months; and five months subsequently 

 another was found alive in my collection, so that 

 the last has been nearly two years dormant. These 

 shells were sent to Mr. Loddiges's nursery, where 

 they lived for eight months in the palm-house, when 

 they unfortunately died within a few days of each 

 other. Soon after the shells were first deposited at 

 Mr. Loddiges's one got away and escaped detection 

 for several months, until it was at last discovered in 

 a state of hybernation ; it was removed to the place 

 where the others were kept, when it died also. The 

 upper surface of the animal when in health is va- 

 riegated with ruddy spots and streaks on an ash- 

 coloured ground.' The only process used for re- 

 vivilying these animals was placing them on a plate 

 near a moderate fire, and sprinkling them with tepid 

 water. Upon their restoration, they ate a consider- 

 able part of the parchment-like seal or operculum 

 They lived some time with Mr. Broderip before 

 they were sent to Mr. Loddisres. These animals 

 had been packed up in a box and enveloped in 

 cotton from the time of their capture to the period 

 mentioned, when they were unpacked by Mr 

 Broderip. Mr. Lyell notices this circumstance when 

 treating on the geographical distribution of tes- 

 tacea, in the third volume of his ' Principles of 

 Geology.' 



2619. — The Blood-lippkd Bulinus 

 (Bulinus Iieenmstoma). Referring to the figure— a 

 represents the Egg ; b, the Egg-shell broken, showing 

 the young animal with its shell in situ ; c, the SheFl 

 of a young one just after exclusion from the egg- ' 

 d, the Shell at a more advanced age, but before the' 

 lip is reflected ; e, the adult Shell. , 



This species is found in the brakes of St. Vincent 

 and of the Antilles generally; it exists also, accord- 

 ing to the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, in Equinoctial 

 America also. The young shell is semi-transparent 

 but becomes opaque as it advances in age. The 

 adult shell is brown, strongly striated or wrinkled 

 longitudinally with a rose-coloured mouth • epider- 

 mis brown. 



An allied species, the Bulinus ovalis, but of con- 

 siderably larger size, from Rio, lived for some time 

 in a hot-house in the Horticultural Gardens at Chis- 

 wick, and laid three eggs. 



T,.',',- "'** ,b™"Kht over in October, 1828, bv Mr 

 William M'Culloch, then gardener to the Right 

 Hon. Robert Gordon, and presented by him to the 

 Horticultural Society. At first it appeared rather 

 sickly, but after it had been kept in the hot-house 

 for some time it recovered and began to move 

 about. Mr. Booth, who was on the spot, says " It 

 cannot now be correctly ascertained when it' pro- 

 duced the first egg, but it was very shortly after its 

 arnval: I should think about the beginning of 

 November. This egg was sent, by the desire of 

 Mr. Sabine, to the Zoological Society. About the 

 same time this year (1820) it produced a second 

 egg, and, three weeks afterwards, a third : the latter 

 was unfortunately broken by the animal itself, but 

 he lormer is still i„ preservation. It fed upon 

 lettuces and he tender leaves of cabbages • the 

 former seemed to be its favourite food. Sometimes 

 It would devour two large lettuces, and then re- 

 main for days afterwards without touching ibod or 

 moving liom its place, except when cold water was ' 



sprinkled upon it. During the day it was usually in 

 a dormant state in the shade ; but towards the 

 evening, when the house was moist and warm it 

 would spread itself out, and move from one part' to 

 another. It seemed to like moisture, and I have no 

 doubt tliat it might have been preserved for years 

 If It had not been accidentally kdled. On Saturday 

 last It was at the end of the house where the fire 

 comes in, and ventured too far upon the hot bricks 

 alter they had been watered. In the mornine it 

 was found fixed to them and quite dead." f Zool 

 Journal,' vol. v. p. 102.) 



2620.— The THBEE-nANDKu Bulimllus 

 (Bulimulus trifasciiUus). Bulimus Guadaloupensis, 

 I "^L '^^""* Bulimulus, established by Dr. 



Leach, difl-ers from Bulinus principally in the 

 dehcacy of the outer lip. " 



The three-banded Bulimulus is a very common 

 species in the West Indies, varying considerably in 

 colour; and it is remarkable that it occure im- 

 bedded in the limestone of the " grande terre " of 

 Guadaloupe, which enc^loses fossil human skeletons, 

 of which one is in the British Museum. Respecting 

 these skeletons, Mr. Lyell (' Principles of Geology') 

 says, that " several, more or less mutilated, have 

 been found in the West Indies, on the north-west 

 coast of the main land of Guadaloupe, in a kind of 

 rock which is known to be forming daily, and which 

 consists of minute fragments of shells and corals, 

 incrusted with a calcareous cement resembling 

 travertin, by which also the different grains are 

 bcund together. The lens shows that some of the 

 Iragments ol coral composing this stone still retain 

 the same red colour which is seen in the reefs of 

 iving coral which surround the island. The shells 

 belong to the neighbouring sea, intermixed with 

 some terrestrial kinds, which now live on the island 

 and among them is Bulimus Guadaloupensis." There 

 IS another human skeleton from the same rock in 

 the Museum at Paris. M. Konig has published 

 an interesting paper on the skeleton in the British 

 Museum in the ' Philosophical Transactions." 



2621.— The Uwdulated Plekocheilos 

 (Plecocheilus imdulatus). Shell and Animal. The 

 Rev. Lansdown Guilding, who founded the genus 

 describes the shell as barely umbilicate, dextial, 

 oval, spiral ; the spire elevated but obtuse ; the two 

 last whorls the largest, and ventricose ; aperture 

 entire and elongated ; columella with a single plait ; 

 lip thickened. 



This elegant species abounds in immense num- 

 bers in the forests of St. Vincent, and generally 

 emerges from its retreat on the approach of evening, 

 but is not unfrequently to be seen abroad during 

 the day. The shell is stout, plaited longitudinally, 

 and indistinctly striated transversely. The general 

 colour is ferruginous chestnut, with oblique brown 

 undulated bands. The body of the snail is oliva- 

 ceous, pallid beneath. In young specimens, as was 

 observed by the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, the shell 

 is wiihout stria,', diaphanous, prettily corroded on 

 the surface, with simple lips. Old shells are covered 

 with a thick brown epidermis. The eggs are ag- 

 glutinated to the leaves of the Tillandsicp, which 

 Irom holding water secure a damp atmosphere at 

 all times. 



Fig. 2622 represents the shell of Plecocheiliis 

 undulatus in two views : at Fig. 2623, a is a Young 

 Shell of the same ; b, an Egg magnified ; c, the same 

 the natural size; d, Apex of Nucleus of Shell en- 

 larged. 



2624. — The Megaspiba 

 (Megaspira Buschenbergiana). According to Mr. 

 Lea this form is closely allied to Bulinus and Pupa. 

 It is a terrestrial shell, remarkable for the produc- 

 tion of its spire, which consists of twenty-three close- 

 set, narrow, gradually increasing whorls ; and the 

 outer lip is reflected. The mollusk is unknown : 

 colour of shell brownish, with darker spots. 



Family LIAIN^ID/E (LIMN^A, PLAN- 

 ORBiS, &c.). 



The mollusks of this family are the tenants of 

 fresh watei-s, either stagnant, or with a gen'le cur- 

 rent, coming up to the surface for the purpose of 

 respiration In such brooks as that represented 

 at Fig. 262.5, abounding in aquatic plant.s and 

 gliding smoothly along, they exist in va.st numbers. 

 They have only two tentacles, according to Mr. 

 Gainer (' Linn. Trans.,' vol. xvii. p. 403). The plan- 

 orbis respires both air and water. 



In this family Cuvier places a shell-less group 

 (onchidium), most of the species of which live at 

 the margin of the sea, alternately covered and left 

 dry by the tide. 



2626. — The Hoent Planobbis 



(P/anorbis Cornells'). In the genus Planorbis the 

 animal is elongated, compressed, slender, and very 

 strongly rolled up ; head furnished with two ten- 



