HELIX-PHANIA. 193 



Synopsis of Sections. 

 Section II. PHANIA Albers. 



Shell depressed, imperforate, carinated, convex above and below; 

 generally malleated ; unicolored ; junction of nucleus with the 

 after-growth not distinct ; lip expanded, bright colored ; columella 

 widened, adnate over the umbilicus, its edge with a convex blade- 

 like callus. 



Section I. CAMAENA Albers. 



Shell subglobose, umbilicated or imperforate ; coarsely sculptured, 

 generally malleated or finely corrugated ; generally banded ; nucleus 

 about one-fifth the diameter of the shell, its junction with the after- 

 growth distinct, columella concave, rounded. 



Section II. PHANIA Albers, 1860. 



Phania ALBERS, Die Heliceen, 2d edition, p. 157. Type H. lam- 

 pas. VON MARTENS, Landschnecken der Ostasiatischen Expedi- 

 tion, p. 325. PFEiFFER,NomenclatorHeliceorum Viventium p. 178. 



Shell large, solid, imperforate, depressed ; keeled at the periphery, 

 convex above and below ; generally malleated ; unicolored ; peris- 

 tome thickened, expanded, highly colored, dilated over the umbili- 

 cus, the columella broadened somewhat by a plate or blade-like 

 lobe of callus extending into the aperture; whorls about 4J. 



These characters define a group of shells characteristic of the 

 Island of Halmaheira in the Moluccas, and the smaller islets around 

 it. The several forms are very closely allied, and their variability 

 causes me to surmise that they should be reduced to only three spe- 

 cies. 



The affinities of the group, so far as they can be known from the 

 shells alone (for the soft parts are still unknown), seem to indicate 

 a position between the Ceylonese group Acavus and the section Cam- 

 cena as reconstructed in this book. From both of these, Phania 

 differs in not showing the junction of the embryonic nuclear whorls 

 with the post-embryonic growth : a character always to be seen on 

 the shells of Acavus and Camcena. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 this character is masked, I am wholly inclined to the belief that the 

 embryo of Phania undergoes a more prolonged ante-natal develop- 

 ment than usual in the Helices, as is the case with Acavus and Cam- 

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