52 



ON THE ANATOMY OF VITREA SCHARFFI. 



By Rev. E. W. Bowell, M.A. 



Read lOth Jcmuary, 1908. 



Some ten or eleven years ago Dr. Boycott drew my attention to the 

 existence, at Hereford, of a form of Vitrea having a radula like that 

 of V. cellaria^ but a shell answering to the description of V. nitidida, 

 var. nitens (in particular). The preparations were kept, and they 

 undoubtedly belong to the species Mr. Kennard has just described. 

 I have also found examples in my Hereford material collected before 

 that time ; and it has also occurred in the matei'ial taken by me in the 

 Boss-on- Wye district this last summer. The shell certainly bears 

 a strong superficial resemblance to that of nitidula, though the 

 resemblance no doubt seemed greater in the days when one took it 

 for granted that all common Fitrece must be either cellaria or nitidula. 

 It is not such a resemblance as would deceive the practised eye of 

 Mr. Kennard, but it may account for some of the mistakes which are 

 often made when large numbers of Vitrece have to be sorted. The 

 nicely cleaned cabinet specimen exhibits it less markedly than the 

 living animal, because the combination of colours of skin and shell 

 assists the ' make-up.' The prevailing tint of the animal of Scharffi 

 is, however, a dull brown ; it is generally more or less flecked with 

 black, but in small patches not forming a pattern or lines. 



Mr. Kennard has sent me a number of specimens from the localities 

 he has mentioned, and I have many others yet to be examined. 

 I have, however, gone carefully through the original consignment, 

 and taken samples of the rest. The drawings here given are all from 

 the same specimen — one of the original ones ; but the description is 

 equally based on 17 other careful dissections and 22 conducted more 

 hastily. It is now my practice to examine with a 26 mm. objective 

 the texture of all shells that may be called " doubtful nitidula^' : if 

 they present the regular series of parallel concentric striae which 

 characterises that species, I find it is pretty safe to assume that they 

 are nitidula ; if not, they are put on one side for further examination, 

 and generally turn out to be Scharffi. 



Eeproductive System (Fig. 1). The ovotestis, in several specimens 

 in which it was minutely examined, had five ducts ; in one four only 

 could be found. The acini form a voluminous mass in the specimen 

 figured ; further (histological) details will be embodied in a special 

 paper. The hermaphrodite duct is exceptionallj^ long and wide, and 

 but little convoluted, but appears to be provided at several points of 

 its course with valves, originating from a kind of intussusception. 

 The albumen gland is slug- shaped, and the duct joins it in a deep 

 trifid groove at a point above the middle. The epididymis has two 

 and a half complete turns between the albumen gland and the entry 

 of the vas deferens. In specimens which have the oviducal portion 

 distended the epididymis forms a compact suboval organ, but the 



