QL 



MAY k 9, 1922 



Canada c;<9 



Victoria Memorial Museum 

 Bulletin No. 36 



BIOLOGICAL SERIES, No. 8 



LAND SNAILS FROM THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



By S. STILLMAN BERRY 



INTRODUCTION 



The present paper is a report on a collection of land snail shells from 

 the Rocky Mountain region of British Columbia and Alberta, submitted 

 to the writer by the Victoria Memorial Museum, Canada. The entire 

 Museum collection from this region is here considered, although it appears 

 that an appreciable part of it has already been examined or even reported 

 upon by other authors. For the sake of completeness, as well as because 

 the re-scrutiny of these old determinations has resulted in bringing some in- 

 teresting points to light, it seems desirable to include all these species along 

 with the more novel items in the report in hand. For instance, it appears 

 that certain of the specimens were submitted by J. F. Whiteaves to Dr. 

 Victor Sterki some years ago, and the labels which Dr. Whiteaves afterwards 

 attached to them were consequently based upon Dr. Sterki's determinations. 

 It is interesting to note that in spite of the great advances which have 

 recently taken place in our understanding of the western land snails, the 

 present writer is still able to concur in most of the identifications so made. 

 In a few instances our more complete present-day knowledge makes possible 

 something of a revision. 



It will be noted that the bulk of the material is from but two sources 

 the collection made by J. B. Tyrrell, while acting as assistant to G. M. 

 Dawson during his Rocky Mountain explorations of July and August, 1883, 

 and that made by J. Macoun in 1885. 



The molluscan fauna of the great area commonly known as the Can- 

 adian Rockies has been very insufficiently elucidated. In fact it still re- 

 mains essentially a virgin field. The most important previous publica- 

 tions dealing with the terrestrial mollusks are the short papers of 

 Dawson (1875), Taylor (1893, 1895, 1895a), and Vanatta (1906), 

 together with the more general work of Dall (1905). It is hoped 

 that the present paper may be in a small way an incitative to an extension 

 of the list. Its chief value must lie in this and in the bearing possessed 

 by some of its data upon certain problems of distribution. However, one 

 species, Gonyodiscus shimekii, is for the first time 1 reported as living, and 

 one subspecies, Oreohelix slrigosa canadica, is described as new. 



1 At least in the form of its typical subspecies. 

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