72 ACHATINA, S.-G. LEPTOCALA. 



Subgenus LEPTOCALA Ancey, 1888. 



Petitia JOUSSEAUME, Bull. Societe Zoologique de France 

 ix, 1884, p. 172, for P. petitia and P. raffrayi. D 'Ailly, 

 Bihang etc., 1897, p. 71, not Petitia Chitty. Leptocala ANCEY, 

 Bull. Soc. Malac. de France, v, p. 70, footnote no. 3 (1888), 

 type A. mollicella Morel.; Nautilus xii, p. 92 (1898). Not 

 teptocola Gerstaecker 1883 (Insecta). 



The shell is ovate-oblong, very thin, more or less flammu- 

 late, glossy, and only minutely striate. The protoconch is 

 smooth and rather large. The columella is truncate at the 

 base as in Achatina. The eggs (of A. pulchella Mts.) are 

 dirty white, and measure 4x5 mm. The radula of A. pul- 

 chella has, according to Schako, a very small central tooth, 

 laterals with an ectocone ; marginals with the entocone de- 

 veloped, so that they become tricuspid. 



This group differs from Achatina chiefly in the thin 

 texture and minute sculpture of the shell and in the color 

 of the eggs. It is admitted as a genus by d' Ailly, but no 

 adequate generic characters have yet been formulated for it. 

 Only two or three species have been satisfactorily shown to 

 exist, although the roll of names proposed contains three 

 times that number. 



Species of Leptocala. 



1. Shell densely, very finely striate spirally; decorated with 

 narrow undulating flames extending upon the base. 

 West African (Leptocala s. sir.). 



a. Length 18, diam. 12 mm. ; whorls 6 ; stripes wider 

 on the spire. Guinea. A. mollicella, no. 1. 



b. Length 32, diam. 15 mm.; whorls 6-7; stripes not 

 noticeably wider on the spire. Congo and Kamerun. 



A. m. petitia, no. la. 



2. Shell with faint, inconspicuous growth-striae; whitish- 

 corneous with indistinct reddish streaks on the base; 

 length 27, diam. 12 mm. Angola. 



A. specularis, no. 2. 

 . 3. Shell without spirals; flames abruptly terminating in 



