296 Note on Yivipara lineata^ Val. 



It needed but a glance at this description to convince me that 

 it was never drawn from a specimen of the species to which the 

 name lineata has been applied by American authors. It was 

 equally clear to me that the description was not applicable to any 

 species known to inhabit the region indicated by Valenciennes. 

 I was obliged, therefore, in the work referred to (p. 31), to leave 

 it a doubtful species, with the hope of its eventually being redis- 

 covered. 



Here the matter rested, until an opportunity occurred of clear- 

 ing up all doubt regarding the identity of Paliidina lineata^ 

 Valenciennes. While in Paris, in 1867, it occurred to me to 

 look among the shells at the Garden of Plants for the original 

 specimen of Valenciennes. Through the kindness of Prof. 

 Lacaze-Duthiers every facility for the search was given me. I 

 very soon found the desired type, glued to a card tablet and 

 labelled, in the handwriting of Valenciennes, "Paludina lineata, 

 Val., dans Humboldt et Bonpland, tome II. Du lac Erie, 

 I'Amerique du Nord, par M. Michaud;" but below was written 

 in the same hand " C'est faux, elle vient de I'lnde."^ Here then 

 was a simple solution of the difficulty. The species is not 

 American. It is the well-known Eastern shell figured by Kiister 

 as Paludina Bengalensis (Chemn., ed. 2, figs. 15, 16). Other 

 specimens from Delhi, Bengal, &c., are labelled P. lineata^ also 

 in Valenciennes' handwriting; on one 'Vd\AQ\> Pal. fasciata^ Grray, 

 is given as a synonym. 



A few days after this interesting discover}^ at the Garden of 

 Plants I was looking at a copy of Humboldt and Bonpland's 

 " Recueil d'Observations, &c." at the house of M. Crosse. Turning 

 to the description of Paludina lineata^ I found a marginal note 

 referring the species to Bengal instead of Lake Erie. Recogniz- 

 ing the handwriting of Valenciennes, I called the attention of M. 

 Crosse to it, and learnt that the book had actually belonged to 

 Valenciennes, at the sale of whose library it was bought by M. 



* Paludina lineata, Val., in Humboldt and Bonpland, vol. 2. Prom Lake Erie, 

 North America, by Mr. Michaud. This is a mistake, the shell comes from India*, 



