AltlOPHANTA. 41 



spire couoidal, apex acute, suture impressed; whorls 6|, convex, 

 the last rounded at the periphery, not descending; aperture 

 oblique, roundly lunate ; peristome simple, blunt, the basal 

 margin rather thicker, columellar margin briefly produced and 

 reflected, nearly covering the perforation. 



Major diam. 21, min. 19, axis 14| mm. ; aperture 10 broad, 

 9 high. 



Hub. Hills of South-western Ceylon, about 4000 feet elevation, 

 in forest ( Gardener, Nevill). 



[From beneath fallen leaves in forest, Uva, 5000 ft. (0. Collett).~] 



[For description of animal, see p. 64.] 



b. Sculpture of decussating lines and of oblique shallow grooves 

 and low ridges. 



70. Ariophanta basileus, Bs. (Helix) A. M. N. H. (3) vii, 1861, 

 p. 81 ; id. t. c. xiii, 1864, p. 497 ; Blf. (Nanina) /. A. S. B. 1866, 

 2, p. 39; Pfr. (Helix) Mon. Hel v, 1868, p. 120; id. t. c. vii, 

 1876, p. 124 ; H. $ T. (Helix) C. J. pi. 25, fig. 7 ; Godwin- Austen 

 (Nilgiria), Proc. Mat. Soc. v, 1902, p. 248, pi. 6 (animal and 

 anatomy). 

 Helix titanica, Pfr. P. Z. S. 1862, p. 117, pi. 12, fig. 3. 



Shell narrowly umbilicated, conoidly depressed, covered with a 

 brownish-yellow deciduous epidermis, beneath the epidermis 

 white, pinkish towards the apex, surrounded beneath the periphery 

 by a broad dark chestnut or blackish band, which is paler below ; 

 sculpture consisting of striae covered by a few impressed spiral 

 lines and of irregular, shallow, slightly oblique grooves, often 

 more or less obsolete ; spire convexly conoid, apex obtuse, suture 

 scarcely impressed ; whorls 5 J, almost flat above, the last not 

 descending, convex beneath, angulate at the periphery ; aperture 

 oblique, ovally lunate; peristome thin, straight, columellar 

 margin expanded and briefly reflexed, partly covering the 

 umbilicus. 



Major diam. 72, min. 62, axis 38 mm. ; aperture 38 broad, 

 16 high. 



Hob. Anaimalai teak-forest, 2000-3000 feet above the sea, west 

 of the main range of hills. 



A. basileus is the largest of Indian snails. It has not been 

 found north of the great gap in the Sahyadri range at Palghat. 

 The shell is very similar to that of the Siamese Hemiplecta distincta, 

 Pfr., but the animal, for a specimen 'of which I am indebted to 

 Mr. Thurston, proves on examination to be a true Ariophanta. 

 The genitalia resemble those of A. solata. The radula is very 

 broad and the formula for the teeth 56 . 2 . 28 . 1 . 28 . 2 . 56 

 (86 . 1 . 86), [which is almost identical with that of A. chenui. 

 The centre tooth is tricuspid, the admedian teeth are elongate 

 with a cusp on the outer side ; the laterals are aculeate, slightly 

 curved in form, they become shorter and more slender, and 

 the outermost are blunt and minute, resembling those of Havana 

 politissima~]. 



