35^ 



ECUADOR, PERU, AND BOLIVIA 



CHAP. 



The Helicidae are most abundant in the north and west, and 

 are represented by several very striking sub-genera, some of which 

 possess remarkably toothed apertures, and perhaps betray an 

 ancestry common to some of the West Indian genera. Of these, 

 Lahyrinthus has 12 species in Venezuela and Colombia, 5 in 

 Ecuador, and 3 in Peru and Bolivia ; Isomer ia 12 in Venezuela 

 and Colombia, 20 in Ecuador, and 2 in Peru and Bolivia; 

 Salaropsis is represented in these countries by 6, 3, and 7 species, 

 and Systroiohia by 4, 5, and 8 species respectivel}^ 



Clausilia — in the group Nenia — appears in some numbers 

 along the Andes chain, the only other representative in the New 

 World being the solitary species occurring at Porto Rico. There 

 have been described, from Venezuela and Colombia 10 species, 

 from Ecuador 5, and from Peru and Bolivia 12. 



Another marked feature of the region is the occurrence 

 of the Orthalicidae, in the two genera Orthalicus and Porphy- 

 rohapJie. The latter of these magnificent forms is peculiar, 

 while the former reaches Mexico, the West Indies, and Brazil. 

 Ecuador, which contains 23 species, seems the metropolis of 

 the group. 



Bulimus and Bulimulus^ the former genus being peculiar to 

 S. America and the adjacent islands, are largely 

 represented, the former in the three groups 

 Borus^ Dryptus^ and Orphnus. These attain 

 their maximum in Peru, with 25 species, but 

 Venezuela and Colombia have as many as 17. 

 Bulimulus has been subdivided into a number 

 of groups, e.g. Drymaeus^ Mesemhrinus, Thau- 

 mastus, Mormus, Scutalus^ with many others, 

 — the exact scientific limits of which are not 

 easily discernible. It must suffice here to 

 state that Peru seems to be the head-quarters 

 of the group with about 190 species (which 

 probably may well be reduced), Ecuador having 

 about 70, and Venezuela and Colombia between 

 80 and 90. 



Two very remarkable forms belonging to the 

 Pupidae, Anostoma (Fig. 154, p. 248) and Tomi- 

 gerus, occur in Venezuela, the metropolis. Bho- 

 dea, another very peculiar shell (Fig. 234), whose exact family 



Fig. 234. — Bhodea 

 ffigantea Mouss., 

 New Grenada. 



