6 LIEUT.-COL. GODWIN-AUSTEN ON SOCOTRAN SHELLS. [Jan. 16, 



aperture oval, angular above, narrowly rounded below ; peristome 

 thin ; columellar margin straight. 

 Size of largest specimen : — 



Major diam. 8-.5, alt. apert. 8-5, alt. axis 22-5 millim. 

 „ 0-33, „ 0-33, „ 0-SOinch. 



Eight specimens were in the collection, the exact locality not men- 

 tioned. It is very similar to examples of M. scabra from the Deyra 

 Dhoon, and to fig. I4a, pi. 2/ of Brot's Monograph. 



Melania scabra, Miiller, var. (Plate 11. fig. 3.) 



Whorls 6, not angulate above. 

 Size : — 



This is another species with an extensive range, but more exclu- 

 sively Indian and Malayan. Brot gives Timor, Vanikoro, Java, India, 

 Pondichery and Madras, Poona, Cochin China, New Guinea, and 

 Halmaheira (Gilolo), Moluccas. I have it from the Indus and its tribu- 

 taries in Scinde and the Punjaub, and the Ganges and its tributaries. 



Melania pagoda, Lea, var. (Plate II. fig. 9.) 



Shell ovately turreted, well-spined ; sculpture, well marked carinate 

 spiral ribbing on all the whorls, crossed by fine transverse striae ; 

 colour pale brown, mottled on the last whorl with rich madder-brown ; 

 spire high ; suture shallow ; whorls 6, rather flat, angulate above; 

 spire decollate, 7 spines on the last whorl, sharp-pointed ; aperture 

 ovate ; peristome thin, rounded below, sinuate on the outer margin. 



Size : — 



Major diam. 7*0, alt. apert. /'O, alt. axis 14-0 millim. 

 „ 0-28, „ 0-28, „ 0-55 inch. 



This shell is a near ally of the Ceylon M. datura, Dohrn S on the 

 Indian side, and 31. amarala, Brug., of Bourbon and Mauritius, 

 Madagascar and Comoro Islands, on the African side, but never 

 yet obtained on the mainland. From the first it differs in its more 

 numerous spines, which are directed upwards and not so obliquely 

 outwards as those of M. datura, the form of the spire being the same 

 in both. From the second it is more remote and distinct in its 

 higher spire and less tumid form and lengthened spines, which are 

 apparently shorter and blunter in M. amarulu. 1 give a figure (PL II. 

 fig. 11) of a Mauritian specimen of this last species, to show better 

 how it differs from the Socotrau shell. M. pac/oda, Lea, from the 

 Philippines, is another very closely allied species to M. datura. I.e. 

 plate 28. fig. 5, where both long- and short-spined examples are 

 given. The shell I describe and figure is not fully grown ; but it is 

 the finest specimen Professor Balfour obtained. Mr. A. Brot, to 



^ Vide Monograph of the Mdania, by A. Brot, Syst. Couch. Cab. p. 276, plate 

 28. figs. 4, 4a 46, and Conch. Indic.T. plnteTS. fig. 10. 



