1871.] MR. HARPER PEASE ON POLYNESIAN LAND-SHELLS. 463 



The above description was drawn up several years since from 

 specimens collected at Kalapana, district of Puna, Island of Hawaii ; 

 as they have been lost, I furnish the precise locality, to enable col- 

 lectors to recover the type. 



Before leaving this genus I would remark that, of the first type 

 referred to above, three species have been described, viz. V. nitens, 

 Pse., pediculus, Shutt, and nacca, Gld. They are widely distributed, 

 specimens having been received from the following islands : — Apaiang, 

 Ebon, Upolu, Aitutake, Roratonga, Tahiti, Bolabola, Raiatea, Nuku- 

 hiwa, Hawaii ; they agree in their general characters as to size, 

 shape, texture, and colour, with slight local variations. At some loca- 

 lities they are wholly dextral, at others wholly sinistral. They differ 

 more widely as to the number and position of the teeth in the aper- 

 ture : usually there are two teeth on the posterior wall of the aper- 

 ture, which are separate or joined in a bifid manner, rarely but one ; 

 the columellar tooth is constant ; on the base of the outer lip, gene- 

 rally three, at regular intervals, occasionally but two ; and in addition 

 very small rudimentary teeth are rarely met with at different parts 

 of the aperture. 



Having received but forty or fifty specimens, I am at present 

 unable to offer a decisive opinion as to the value of the several 

 species. 



I note also that V. tantilla, Gld., occurs on all the islands of the 

 Tahitian group, and V. costulosa, Pse., on all those of the Hawaiian. 

 The species of this genus will prove to be more widely distributed 

 than those of any inhabiting Polynesia. 



Operculated Genera. 

 Genus Omphalotropis, Pfr. 



Since the publication of a monograph of the above genus in ' Journ. 

 de Coneh.' 1869, a number of species have been described which 

 confirm the distribution and variation as there given. 



The typical form of the genus, the shells of which are carinate or 

 angulate around the umbilicus, more or less ornamented with colours, 

 and of an ovate shape more or less modified, enters Western Poly- 

 nesia from the East Indies, extending south to the Samoas and 

 thence over the Papuan Islands. Passing east, however, to the 

 Tahitian group and the other islands of Eastern and Southern Poly- 

 nesia, the genus undergoes a wide variation, so much so that several 

 of the species have been classed with other genera. 



Their operculum and animal clearly connect them with the above 

 genus. One of the forms I have distinguished by the subgeneric 

 name Scalinella, which may be found faithfully illustrated on 

 Plate 7, Journ. de Conch. 1869. One remaining I now separate 

 under the name of 



Subgenus Atropis, Pse. 



Testa oblonga, interdmn cylindracea, rare ovata, imperforata vel 

 angaste perforata, unico/or ; apertura ovata, fere circularis ; 



