CANARIAN GROUP. 395 



Helix lenticula, Paiva, Mon. Moll. Mad. 96 (1867) 

 Dohrn, Mai. Blatt. 3 (1869) 



Mouss., Faun. Mai. des Can. 66 (1872) 



Habitat ins. omnes (i. e. septem) Canarienses ; in aridis 

 apricis longe lateque diffusa. Etiam semifossilis in Canaria 

 Grandi, sc. in arenis ad El Charco ultra Maspalomas, reperitur ; 

 necnon cl. Mousson. c var. virilisj a Fuerteventura receptam et 

 forsan (vix certe) in statu semifossili repertam, descripsit. 



This common Mediterranean Helix (which occurs also in 

 the Azores, Madeiras, and Cape Verdes) is widely diffused over 

 the Canarian archipelago, from the whole seven islands of 

 which I have myself obtained it. My Lanzarotan examples are 

 principally from Chache, and the Risco (overlooking the Salinas) 

 in the extreme north of the island ; the Fuerteventuran ones 

 from the Rio Palmas, and the Monte Atalaya; the Grand 

 Canarian ones from El Monte, El Charco (in the extreme 

 south), Aldea de S. Nicolas, the Final of Tarajana (above S. 

 Bartolome), and between Maspalomas and Juan Grande; the 

 Teneriifan ones from Orotava (where it was met with also by 

 Mr. Watson) ; and the Palman ones from the Barranco de 

 Herradura, the Barranco de Agua, the Barranco de Nogales, 

 and the calcareous region below Argual of the Banda. 



In the Madeiran Group the H. lenticula has much the 

 appearance of having been originally naturalised, occurring as 

 it does, almost exclusively, within the cultivated districts ; but 

 at the Canaries it has a wider and more natural range ; added to 

 which, in the sandy wastes at El Charco (beyond Maspalomas) 

 in the south of Grrand Canary I met with it in even a subfossil 

 condition ; and some of the specimens which were obtained by 

 Mr. Watson on the hills above Las Palmas, in the same island, 

 appear also to be subfossilized. Mousson likewise reports a very 

 solid form of the shell, from Fuerteventura, his ' var. virilisj 

 which he seems to think may possibly belong to a fauna which 

 has passed away, though the fact that he has not cited it in 

 his ultimate list as subfossil would at any rate seem to imply 

 that he entertained some degree of doubt on the subject. His 

 ' var. virilisy which was obtained in Fuerteventura by Fritsch, 

 he describes as thicker and more solid than the ordinary type, 

 adding : 6 Cette forme, assez particuliere, s'est trouvee en 

 quelques individus morts, qui, nonobstant une certaine fraicheur, 

 ne paraissent pas appartenir a 1'epoque actuelle, que caracterise, 

 dans la meme ile, le type actuel. Elle s'en distingue par la 

 solidite du test, la plus forte costulation, se prolongeant a la 

 base, par la carene un peu crenelee, par le peristome re- 

 marquablement epaissi, par 1'insertion superieure qui avance 

 et qui s'epaissit presque en un tubercle.' 



