MADEIRAN GROUP. 253 



Achatina Paroliniana (pars), W. et B., Ann. des Sc. Nat. 28. 



syn. 320 (1833) 

 d'Orb., in W. et B. Hist. 73 



(1839) 

 triticea, /3. edentula, Pfeiff., Mon. Hel. ii. 278 



(1848) 

 oryza et tuberculata, Lowe, Ann. Nat. Hist. ix. 



120(1852) 



Tandoniana, Shuttl., Bern. Mitth. 293 (1852) 

 oryza et tuberculata, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 



204 (1854) 



Olandina oryza, Alb., Mai. Mad. 58. t. 15. f. 7-10 (1854) 

 Achatina triticea, var., Paiva, Mon. Moll. Mad. 110 (1867) 

 Cionella Tandoniana, Mouss., Faun. Mai. des Can. 129 



(1872) 



Lovea oryza, Watson, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 680 (1875) 

 Habitat Portum Sanctum ; sub lapidibus in montibus vul- 

 garis. Semifossilis in arena calcarea nine inde reperitur. 



This and the L. triticea are the common Loveas of Porto 

 Santo, to which island they would seem to be peculiar ; but, of 

 the two, the L. oryza is perhaps rather the less abundant. In 

 size and general aspect, indeed, they are almost coincident, 

 except that the oryza is, on the average, of a paler hue, as well 

 as destitute of the strong medial ventral plait which is so con- 

 spicuous within the aperture of its ally ; a small and obsolete 

 tubercle being all that is ever apparent to represent the power- 

 fully developed plait of the L. triticea. 



Yet the L. oryza appears to me to have, like so many of the 

 species, two tolerably well-defined states, which nevertheless 

 pass into each other by imperceptible gradations, namely a 

 larger and more ventricose one, which was treated by Mr. Lowe 

 (under the name of tuberculata) as specifically distinct, in 

 which the two rudimentary ventral callosities (i. e. the lon- 

 gitudinal upper one and the medial tubercle) are, together with 

 that on the columella, rather more expressed ; and a smaller 

 one, which is appreciably less convex, and which has the callo- 

 sities above referred to only just traceable. This phasis, last 

 mentioned, is the normal Achatina oryza of Lowe ; and it is 

 extremely abundant at most elevations in Porto Santo, often 

 swarming beneath large slabs of stone, particularly on the 

 mountain slopes of a somewhat high altitude. 



In general size and aspect the L. oryza has a considerable 

 primd facie resemblance to the larger (or typical) form of the 

 terebella ; nevertheless on a closer inspection it is impossible to 

 confound it with that species, it being not only a trifle less 

 elongated, or more ventricose, with its aperture relatively some- 



