88 Mr. W. H. Benson on netv Land- Shells 



3. Helix Cyclotrema, B., n. sp. 



H. testa sinistrorsa, obtecte umbilicata, conoid eo-subglobosa, oblique 

 striatula, granulata, sub epidermide cornea, albida; spira conoidea, 

 apice obtuso, subfoveato, suturis impressis ; anfractibus 4^, con- 

 vexis, gradatim crescentibus, ultimo ad peripheriam obtuse angu- 

 lato, unifasciato, antice lato, longe descendente, subtus convexo ; 

 apertura valde obliqua, rotundata, peristomate dilatato, reflexius- 

 culo, marginibus conniventibus, approximatis, callo brevi junctis, 

 columellari late auriculato umbilicum celante. 



Diam. major 22, minor 18, axis 11 mill. 



Habitat in montibus "Soomeysur" dictis, prope regionem Nipalensem. 



Detexit W. Theobald jun. 



This interesting shell is the first of the sinistrorse group allied 

 to H. trifasciata, Chemn., which has been hitherto proved to 

 inhabit the Himalayan region. A sinistrorse shell, alleged to 

 have been collected by Dr. Burroughs in the Himalaya, was 

 named H. Himalana by Dr. Lea, in a paper read before the Phil. 

 Soc. of Philadelphia, in Feb. 1832 (date of the dedication of the 

 printed volume, July 1834). In August 1834, the Southern 

 Chinese H. cicatricosa {H. Senegalemis) was considered to be 

 the shell indicated by Dr. Lea, in the opinion of the late Mr. 

 G. B. Sowerby, and was described by me, in the Zoological 

 Journal of that year, under Lea's name, together with H. inter- 

 rupta, m., which occurs abundantly in the Rajmahal range, 

 south of the Ganges, and in the Botanic Gardens near Calcutta. 

 There is now little reason to doubt that H. interrupta is the 

 same as Lea's original shell ; and, even assuming that the latter 

 had the advantage of priority of publication, the locality wrongly 

 assigned by the name to the species should cause the abandon- 

 ment of the designation on the same ground, as that of the 

 Chinese species originally attributed by mistake to Senegal. 



A single dead and imperfect specimen of H. interrupta was 

 sent to me from the station of Daijiling, where it was picked up 

 by Mr. Theobald near a European dwelling-house. It was pro- 

 bably thrown away by the late Dr. Pearson, who resided at that 

 station for some months, and who had also collected the shell, 

 which I discovered in 1831, in the outliers of the Rajmahal 

 range. It is highly improbable that the numerous conchological 

 collectors who have lately explored Darjiling and other parts of 

 the Himalayan Mountains should have missed a shell so con- 

 spicuous and abundant where found ; and when a ' Times ' edi- 

 torial notice could, in 1860, announce a spur of the Himalaya 

 as being visible from Calcutta, it is not a subject for wonder 

 that an American traveller should have mistaken a group of 

 bills south of the Ganges for an offset of the magnificent moun- 

 tains which form the northern boundary of Hindostan. 



