CHAPTER LXVI: THE HUNGRY SNAILS 



Family Helicid/E 

 Genus BULIMUS, Scop. 



Shell spiral, ovate-oblong, solid, whorls few, the last one 

 ventricose and large; aperture elongated; columella wide; lip 

 thick, turned back. Animal like Helix; jaw simple, ribbed. 

 Tropical America. 



The Ovate Bulimus (B. ovafus, Miill.) attains the length of 

 six inches, and except Achatina, is the largest known land snail. 

 The Negroes of Rio Janeiro buy it as a shell fish in the markets, 

 and consider it a delicacy. The.eggs are white and hard-shelled, 

 and so large that one might easily mistake them for pigeons' eggs. 

 The mollusk lays them (not many) in a rude nest dug in the ground 

 and loosely covered with dead leaves. The eggs, too, are used 

 as food. 



The shell is ovate, with prolonged spire, and has the nonde- 

 script, streaked, horny colour calculated to conceal it from detec- 

 tion among dead grass blades. 



Habitat.— Forests of Brazil. 



Many smaller species are brightly painted, and have curi- 

 ously exaggerated lip expansions, inside and out. 



Sub-Genus STROPHOCHEILUS, Spix 



The thick-lipped S. scarabus, Alb., has a pointed ovate 

 spire, with brown epidermis covering the white shell substance. 

 The peristome is simple, surrounding the ear-shaped or oval 

 aperture. The largest specimens are four to five inches long, 

 and come from New Caledonia. 



There are African and Brazilian species. 



Genus BULIMULUS, Leach 



Shell oblong, aperture longitudinal, lip thin. About six 

 hundred species. Tropical America. Several Mexican species 

 invade Texas and other Southern states. 



271 



