

r-r 



ACHATINA, EAST AFRICA. 43 



3, with conic, rather acute apex. Interior roseate or 

 blue, columellar and parietal margin rose-colored. The shell 

 is very solid. In the present state of our knowledge, I do 

 not see that this form can be separated from what Pfeiffer 

 called lamarckiana. 



A. lechaptoisi Ancey is exactly equivalent to mossambica, 

 except in being a little smaller. It was described from 

 Mozambique. The type measured, length 125, diam. 75, alt. 

 apert. 77 mm. 



Gibbons, who reports panthera from Mozambique and In- 

 hambane, writes that it is common on the island of Mozam- 

 bique, living on trees and in cavities of rocks shaded by bush. 

 On the mainland, individuals are much larger and more solid. 

 During the dry season it takes refuge in holes in trees I 

 have seen a dozen or more collected in one cavity. The aper- 

 ture of the shell is then closed by an opaque epiphragm, non- 

 calcareous, having a longitudinal slit down the middle. The 

 animal is omnivorous, eating meat, other snails when dead, 

 vegetables and paper. 



Beyrich found a very short and wide form of panthera 

 at Kapaiva, Transvaal, length 115, diam. 68, aperture 66 

 mm. (Mart., Sitzungsber. Ges. nat. Freunde, 1890, p. 86). 



It is likely that A. panthera is the shell collected in Mada- 

 gascar and reported by Bruguiere under the name Bulimus 

 zebra; though his account of the species is derived chiefly 

 from the South African form to which the name zebra has 

 subsequently been restricted. De Montfort's figure (Con- 

 chyliologie Systematique, ii, p. 418) of Achatinus was 

 clearly a panthera, but his description and synonymy (pp. 

 419, 420) apply to the Cape species. Sganzin reports li A. 

 zebra Lam." as common among bananas in Madagascar. He 

 probably refers to some form of panthera. 



The relation of panthera to acuta Lam. is uncertain until 

 the type of the latter can be examined. Ferussac's figures 

 of what he identified as acuta look like a variety of panthera. 



Mr. Ancey has recorded a sinistral specimen of A. pan- 

 thera, from Madagascar. 



il Achatina eburnoides Sganzin" of Pfeiffer, Monogr., iii, 



