BY THE REV. J, E. TENISON-WOODS. 
1045 
Animal similar to the animal of Helix, with a simple jaw.* 
Radula similar also to Helix. Between 300 and 400 species, 
mostly South American, f 
* It cannot be questioned that Scopoli rather than Adanson should be 
given as the authority for this genus, although the author of the work 
referred to in the text says distinctly, “ Proprium itaque ex his constituo, 
et duce celeberriino Adansonio Bulimos voco, ut eo facilius adnoscantur. 
Solam testam nec animal inhabitans vidi, quod diversum esse a Limace 
afflrmat Adansonius.” p. 67. 
Cf. Histoire Naturelle du S6n4gal (Paris, 1757), where M. Adanson 
writes the name Bulin. The Latin (?) name on pi. 1 looks very much like 
Bulimus inconsequence of the strokes of the ‘'n” and “u” being con- 
fused. A brief account of this curious work may be useful. It is divided 
into two parts; the first of 190 pages is devoted to the “Voyage au 
Senegal the second part is a “ Histoire des Coquillages, ” consisting of : — 
1. Preface, 28 pp. ; 2. Definitions des parties des coquillages, 32 pp. (a 
most useful series of observations well deserving of study) ; 3. Table des 
rapports ou des combinaisons autrement appell6s syst6mes ou arrangements 
m^thodiques, 26 pp. ; 4. Table chronologique des auteurs, 4 pp. ; 5. 
Division g6nerale, 4 pp. ; 6. Coquillages (including index), 275 pp. ; 7. 
Plates, 19 pp. At p. 5 of the Coquillages is a full description which 
extends to three pages of Le Bulin or Bulinus, from which only the first 
sentence need be cited, as it shows the author is dealing with a fresh-water 
shell. “ Je donne le nom de Bulin a un petit coquillage d’ eau douce, qui 
vit commun^ment sur la lentille de marais et sur le lemma, dans les marais 
et les ^tangs de Podor. ” Therefore Scopoli’s genus, spelled differently, is 
justly regarded as new. 
t It is a curious feature in the Philippine and some of the Malay species 
that the varieties of pattern, which constitute their chief ornament, reside 
only in the epidermis. The colours of the shell rarely describe any sort of 
configuration ; they are mostly blended into a uniform tint, over which a 
fanciful pattern is produced l)y the epidermis forming a double poi’ous 
membrane in some places, and a single one only in others, developed, 
moreover, with the same continuous regularity as the textile marking of a 
Volute or Cone. This phenomenon is easily detected by immersing the 
shell in water, when the light portion or upper porous layer of epidermis 
becomes saturateil, and the ground color of tlie shell is seen through it ; as 
the moisture evaporates, the epidermis resumes its light appearance. .Sir 
David lirewster, in reply to a letter from Mr. Broderip on this subject, 
says : “ It appears to me, from very' careful observations, that tlie epidermis 
consists of two layers, and that it is only the upper layer which is porous 
w lierever the pattern is white. Tliese white or porous portions of the 
