Mr. W. H. Benson on some forms of Stenothyra. 501 



" N. testa parva, cornea, semipellucida, ovali ; spira subpro- 

 ducta ; polita, fasciis rufis subobsok'tis ornata ; apertura orbi- 

 culari, pcritreinatc simplici. ]\Ius. Cuming." 



A specimen is now before me from Mr. Cuming's cabinet, 

 which presents the following characters : — 



Testa breviter distincte rimata, ovato-conica, sub lente oblique stri- 

 atula, nitida, pellucida, albido-fulvescente ; spira conica, apice ob- 

 tuse, sutura late marginata ; anfractibus 4 convexiusculis, ultimo 

 antice breviter desceiidente, ventre convexiusculo, latere siiiistro 

 compresse angulato, basi rotuudata; apertura verticali, subcirculari, 

 superue augulata, peritremate acuto. Operc. ? 



Long. 2, diam. ] mill. 



Sowerby says that many specimens were found in the collec- 

 tion of Mr. George Humphreys, in a box of minute shells which 

 he had marked, " From the W. I." No species has yet been 

 recognized in the western hemisphere, so that "Western India" 

 may possibly have been originally intended. An examination 

 of the other shells in the box might have thrown some light on 

 the question. 



The shell cited by M. Albert Mousson, in his ' Moll, von 

 Java,' as the Javanese representative of Quoy's and Gaimard's 

 Paludina ventricosa from Celebes, and which forms another 

 species of Stenothijra, may be distinguished from St. minima, 

 which it about equals in size, by its more ovate form and less 

 conic spire, by the greater descent of the last whorl anteriorly 

 above the aperture, by the lengthened sulcus which separates 

 the peristome from the body whorl, the deeper non-marginate 

 suture, the more tumid ventral part of the last whorl, the 

 absence of compression at the left side, and finally by its pale 

 horny colour and duller surface. I owe this form to the kind- 

 ness of M. Mousson. 



Including St. puncticulata, A.Adams, P.Z.S. 1851, I have 

 now before me eleven good species of the genus from Mr. 

 Cuming's and my own collection. Sowerby has figured {loc. cit.) 

 a fossil species from Grignon. The Delta of the Irawadi, the 

 Siam and Anam rivers, the embouchures of streams in the 

 islands of the Eastern Archipelago, and the waters of Southern 

 India and Ceylon, ought to add materially to the list, when 

 properly explored for these minute and interesting shells. 



Cheltenham, 5th June 185(i. 



