136 LAND-SHELLS 



uncanny appearance and earthy colour ; it is apparently always 

 found on the ground. Of this creature the natives assert that 

 anyone stepping on it, accidentally or otherwise, or seizing it, 

 becomes ill. From the slow, deliberate pace of the chameleon, 

 the Malagasy proverb advises foresight and retrospect : 

 " Ataovy toy ny dian-tana : jereo ny aloha, todlho ny aoriana " 

 i.e. " Act like the stepping of a chameleon : look where you are 

 going, look back the way you have come." Naughty little 

 native boys are fond of making the male chameleons fight 

 together, and it is curious to see how widely the red mouth is 

 opened at such times. 



While staying near the forest I occasionally saw and had 

 brought to me specimens of some of the land-shells which are 

 often found in damp places in the woods. Many years ago 

 more than two hundred of these were known, and this number 

 has probably been considerably added to since, and will still 

 be increased as the country becomes more perfectly explored. 

 Of non-operculate species about eighty were then described, of 

 operculate species about fifty, and about fifty forms had been 

 recorded from the lakes and rivers. The largest of these shells 

 is a species of Helix (bicingulata), warm brown in colour, with 

 diaper-like markings, flattish in shape, and three inches in its 

 longest diameter. There are several other smaller helices ; also 

 examples of Cyclostoma, the opening of which, as the name 

 implies, is almost a perfect circle ; species of Ampullaria, which 

 have a very large opening ; Stenogyra, a long oval and spiral 

 shell ; dark green Melanatria, a large spiral shell like Turritella, 

 three inches long, which I have gathered in forest streams ; 

 while the most delicately marked shells are species of Neritina, 

 with black lines, like fine etchings, on a pale yellow ground. 

 Species of Bultimus, also a beautifully marked shell, and of 

 Limnea, Physa, Phanorbis, and many others are among the 

 fluviatile and terrestrial mollusca of Madagascar. 



In walking through the woods one constantly comes across 

 traces of the wild boar, or, more properly, the river-hog (Potam- 

 ochcerus larvatus), although the animal itself is rarely seen. It 

 is a somewhat ugly creature, with high withers, long back and 

 little hah*. It has an enormous tubercle, supported by a bony 

 protuberance in the jaw, which renders the face of the animal 

 extremely disagreeable. It must exist in large numbers, for 



