512 TEST ACE A ATLANTIC A. 



opake, it being for the most part tolerably shining 1 , and fre- 

 quently almost subdiaphanous. Even adult examples vary 

 exceedingly in length, some of those now before me measuring 

 only 5-J lines, whilst others are 7-J-. Indeed the same fact is 

 commented upon by Dohrn who adds that, while Pfeiffer gives 

 it 7 whorls and a length of 11 millimetres, some of his own 

 specimens had 8 and even 9 volutions, with a length of 17 

 millimetres. 



As regards the synonymy of this Stenogyra, it will be seen 

 that it was first cited by Ferussac under the very singular 

 specific name of ' Bamboucha ;' but as his mention of it was not 

 accompanied by either a diagnosis or a figure, it possesses of 

 course no claim on the score of priority. In 1833, however, it 

 was duly enunciated by Webb and Berthelot (who had in- 

 advertently supposed it to be a Canarian shell) as the Bulimus 

 Bamboucha; nevertheless in the interim (that is, in 1831) it 

 had been published by King under the far more appropriate 

 title of ' subdiaphanaj which fortunately is, for the reason 

 just stated, its correct one. 



I have myself taken the S. subdiaphana in S. lago, Fogo, 

 and Brava, where it is tolerably common, beneath stones, at 

 low and intermediate altitudes, particularly in barren places 

 towards the coast ; often half-burying itself in the loose, dry, 

 friable soil, much after the fashion of the S. decollata or of the 

 Canarian Pupa dealbata; and, judging from his remarks, it 

 was found by Dohrn in S. Nicolao and S. lago. 1 



G-enus 7. PUPA, Drap. 



( Truncatellina, Lowe.) 

 Pupa molecula. 



Pupa molecula, Dohrn, Mai. Bldtt. xvi. 13 (1869) 

 Morel., Journ. de Conch, xiii. 242 (1873) 



1 It is another instance of the excessive inaccuracy of Mr. Webb, as re- 

 gards his habitats, that this shell which is so distinctively characteristic of 

 the Cape Verde Group (and concerning which there is not a shadow of evi- 

 dence that it has been found hitherto in any other region) should have been 

 introduced by him into his Canarian fauna. But perhaps we need not be 

 surprised, for the same misfortune happened to a Helix from S. Vicente 

 which he described as Canarian under the title of advena, and to sundry 

 Madeiran species which are no less peculiar to the more northern archipelago 

 than the S. subdiaphana is to the southern one, and which would seem to 

 have been admitted into his very meagre catalogue (one might really almost 

 suppose) in order to increase its bulk ! It was from bags of dried orchil 

 (Roccella tinctoria), which had been sent to France, that these species and 

 many others were first met with ; and considering that their exact origin was 

 confessedly unknown, it was absolutely unpardonable to publish them, 

 without further information, as Canarian. 



