246 LIMICOLARIA. 



Genus LIMICOLARIA Schumacher, 1817. 



Limicolaria SCHUM., Essai d'un nouv. Syst. Vers Test., pp. 

 61, 200, type Helix flammea Mull. Limicularia SCHUM., t. c., 

 p. 200. SHUTTLEWORTH, Notitise Malac., i, p. 38 (mono- 

 graph) . KOBELT, Conchyl. Cab., i, Abth. 10, pp. 48-83, 115- 

 127. D'AILLY, Contributions a la connaissance des Mol- 

 lusques terrestres et d'eau douce de Kameroun, in Bihang 

 till K. Svenska Vet-Akad. Handlingar, xx, p. 72. Limico- 

 larius BECK, Index Molluscorum, p. 60 (1837). Not Ompha- 

 lostyla SCHLUETER, Kurtzgefasstes syst. Yerz. meiner Con- 

 chyliensammlung, p. 7 (1838), for ustulata Mke. Pythia 

 OKEN, Lehrbuch d. Zool., p. 321, in part (1815). 



Shell conic-oblong or turrite, perforate or closed, thin, 

 smoothish, covered with a very thin, smooth cuticle ; uniform 

 yellowish, or striped or flamed with reddish-brown. Spire 

 regularly tapering to the obtuse apex, the first whorl or two 

 smooth. Aperture vertical or slightly oblique, rather small, 

 less than half the total length of the shell. Outer lip thin, 

 simple and acute ; columellar lip reflexed above, not truncate 

 at the base, but continuous with the basal margin. 



Jaw finely striate. Teeth as in Achatina and Perideris. 

 Kidney and genitalia as in Achatina, etc. 



Distribution : tropical Africa, from the east coast to the 

 west, and from upper Egypt and Abyssinia throughout the 

 Lake region; or about 15 on each side of the Equator. 

 They live chiefly on plants, and, in the Lake region, in grass. 

 The striped coloring of most of the shells is thought to be 

 imitative of light and shadow in their grassy haunts. 



With the coloration of Achatina, this genus differs by the 

 continuity of the columella with the basal lip. Burtoa 

 resembles Limicolaria in the non-truncate columella, but it 

 has the broadly ovate-conic shape of typical Achatina, and 

 the mouth exceeds half the total length of the shell; more- 

 over, the apical sculpture of Burtoa shows it to be more 

 closely related to Achatina than to Limicolaria. 



The epiphragm of L. martensiana is described by Pelseneer 

 as thin and white, having a raised ridge with a slit on the 

 inner side for the entrance of air. This agrees with Achatina. 



