186 MR. A. GARRETT ON THE TERRESTRIAL [Feb. 15, 



Stenogyra novettx/yrata, 'Mon^son, Journ. de Conch. 18/0, p. 126 ; 

 {Subvlina) Paetel.'Cat. Conch. 1873, p. 104 ; Schmeltz, Cat. Mus. 

 Godeff. V. p. 90. 



Buiimus novemgyratus, Pfeiffer, Mon, Hel. viii. p. 138. 



Stenogyra gyrata, Mousson, MS. in Mus. Godeifrcy, 1885. 



This species, which is distributed over a larger geographical area 

 than any other species of land-shell, is diffused throughout all parts 

 of Polynesia, the low coral-islands as well as the more elevated groups, 

 and ranges throughout Melanesia, Micronesia, Australasia, the Mo- 

 luccas, Philippines, Guam, Ceylon, Siam, Cochin China, China, and 

 probably extends its range as far as the east coast of Africa. 



Since the publication of my paper on the Society-Ishnd land- 

 shells I have received from Mr. E. L. Layard examples of Buiimus 

 souverbia7ius and B. artensis, both of which are identical with 

 Polynesian specimens of S. tuckeri. 



Through the kindness of Dr. Hungerford, of Hong Kong, I have 

 been enabled to compare Pfeiffer's Buiimus panayensis with 

 B. tuckeri, and cannot detect a single character to separate the two 

 species. 



I am strongly inclined to believe that the West-Indian Stenogyra 

 tsubula, Pfr., is a form of the Polynesian S. tuclcei-i, and was acci- 

 dentally imported with the Tahitian bread-fruit plants nearly a 

 hundred years ago. MM. Crosse and Fischtr (Journ. de Conch. 

 1863, p. 361) record the West-Indian "Buiimus subula" from 

 Cochin China, and give a good figure oF the same, which latter is, 

 undoubtedly the ubiquitous S. tuckeri. I reproduce their remarks 

 as follows : — 



" Cette espece provient de Saigon et Fuyen-Moth, ou elle a ete 

 recueillie par Monsieur Michau, dans les fosses, dans la terre et sous 

 les herbes. II pent sembler tres-extraordinaire de retrouver en 

 Cochinchine une espece des Antilles, qui n'a guere etc signalee 

 jusqu'ici qu'a Cuba, a la Jama'ique et a. Saint-Thomas. Pour ne 

 conserver aucun doute a son egard, nous avons cru devoir soumettre 

 un individu authentique a I'examin de M. Pfeiffer, qui a cree I'espece. 

 II faut done accepter le fait, qui peut-etre, au reste, seideinent un 

 accident d'acclimatation : la petitesse et la legerete de la coquille en 

 question rendent cette sujjposilion vraisemblable." 



I have lately received from Ur. Hungerford several examples of 

 Stenogyra, labelled " Opeas subula, Pfr., Hong Kong," which do not 

 differ from the Polynesian S. tuckeri. I have several specimens of 

 Stenogyra received from Dr. Gibbons, who collected them in Algoa, 

 South Africa. They were labelled " Stenogyra turri/urmis, Krauss," 

 but are much smaller than the latter species, and the identification is 

 questionable. They are of the same size, and coincide very nearly with 

 S. tuckeri. Buiimus johannius, Morelet, from the Comoro Islands, 

 can scarcely be distinguished from some forms of the latter species. 



This species, which is chiefly confined to the lowlands near the 

 sea-shore, is found beneath decaying vegetation and under loose 

 stones. 



They vary in size, number of whorls, development of striae. 



