148 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



A comparison of tlie descriptions of Ma/ricdla^ and Tennentia"^ 

 with the specimens alluded to and with those sent by Mr. Collett, 

 80 far as the external characters and the shells went, was carefully 

 made by the writer ; but the opinion arrived at, with which Mr. E. A. 

 Smith concurred, was that he could not conscientiously separate any 

 one from the others. In like manner the figures and descriptions 

 of Vega Nordenskioldi^ and Bekliania Beddomei*' were considered and 

 compared with the forms already studied and with each other, and 

 all were put down as generically, if not specifically, identical. 



The only recorded point which could be taken as evidence against 

 the idea that these should all fall into the same genus was the 

 presence of a pinhole in the dorsal wall of the mantle in Godwin- 

 Austen's species; this was also suggested by a tiny dark dot in 

 Mr, Collett' s specimens, while the presence of such an opening 

 was either not mentioned, or stated to be not apparent, in the 

 descriptions of the other ' genera.' 



Against the supposition that all the forms belonged to the same 

 species it might be objected (1) that Gray's species is recorded from 

 " Mahi, near Sechelles," which is widely separated from Ceylon and 

 southern India, where the other forms were found, and (2) that the 

 size and general appearance of Marmlla JBeddomei suggest its possible 

 distinctness. 



The generic difficulty has been removed (except in the case of Vega), 

 though it was only after the preserving fluid had been wiped off, and 

 the minute spot focussed under a low power of the microscope, that 

 a gentle squeezing of the body caused a tiny stream of liquid con- 

 taining particles to issue from the dot and thus prove the existence of 

 a pore in one of Mr. Collett' s specimens ; while a careful microscopical 

 examination of the Museum specimens showed, to the satisfaction of 

 Mr. E. A. Smith and the writer, the presence of a similar pore in the 

 mantle of these slugs. 



Since the greater part of this paper was written, a note by 

 Mr. Cockerell has appeared,^ in which he points out that there is 

 a place called Mahe, which is a French colony on the south-west (he 

 says south-east) coast of India, not far from the Travancore Hills, 

 whence came Godwin- Austen's species. The Seychelles are expressly 

 mentioned by Gray, and further evidence must be forthcoming with 

 regard to the travels of M. Dussumiers, who collected the type, before 

 Mr. Cockerell' s contention can be allowed. It might further be 

 pointed out that the locality as given in the British Museum's register 

 is simply Mahi. There is at least one place of that name to the north- 

 west of India, and though the writer has not been able to trace 

 M. Dussumiers to the Seychelles, the late Dr. Crosse kindly wrote to 



' Catalogue of Pulmonata in Brit. Mus., pt. i (1855), p. 62. 



- Eev. & Mag. Zool., 1862, p. 427, pi. xvii, figs, la & ib. 



3 Vega Exped., vol. iv (1887), p. 188, pi. ii. 



* Land and Fresh-water Mollusca of India, pt. vi (April, 1888), p. 242, pi. Iviii. 



5 Nautilus, vol. xii (1898), p. 9. 



