26 



LOUD irOWE ISLAND. 



woll-wooded localities, but not in the open flats, it is very plentiful under 

 dead timlier, bark, and fallen j^ahn leaves. AV"e particidarly noticed its 

 prevalence on soil formed of the decomposed Coral-sand rock, tbe dead shells 

 in places strewing the ground in thousands. On Eabbit Island, S. Sopliiw, 

 assumes a more elongated character, and Mr. Brazier proposes to dis- 

 tinguish this as the variety coniea. On tlie summit of Mount Ledgbird, 

 the place of H. Sopliice is taken by an equally large, if not somewhat 

 larger species, Helix Iwwinsulw, Cox.* In describing the original speci- 

 mens collected by Mr. E. S. Hill, Dr. Cox says simply " on a mountain," 

 but examples brought us by Mr. Gr. JN'ichols, prove this to be Mount 

 Ledgbird (2,504 ft.), where it occurs from the summit downwards. 

 The little Eabbit or Croat Island does not appear to have a species 

 peculiar to itself, for li. Cathtti, Brazier,t the common species there, 

 occurs on the main island. On the eastern flanks and spurs of Mount 

 Ledgbird we collected a small Helix, at a height of 800-900 ft., which 

 Mr. Brazier proposes to call Helix Ledghirdi. It is a pretty little turreted 

 and variegated shell, and may be found after rain crawling on the basaltic 

 boulders and blocks strewu over the flanks of this inaccessible hill, but 

 in dry weather it takes refuge in the large vesicular cavities of the 

 basalt. On the low grounds at the northern end of the island, amongst 

 cultivated ground a small species was found in numbers to which the 

 name of //. TJnwini, Brazier, is attached, in compliment to Mr. H. A. Unwin, 

 who joined our party as a volunteer worker. The humid gullies and moist hill 

 flanks, running from the North Eidge to the Old Settlement, afforded a prolific 

 hunting ground. There, amid loam, decaying w^ood, and under stones, w^ere 

 obtained numbers of small Helices, which Mr. Brazier proposes to designate H. 

 Whiteleggi; a very finely but regularly transversely striated species, H. Balli, 

 a rare form, named in honour of Lieut. Ledgbird Ball, the discoverer of 

 Lord Howe Island in 1788 ; and lastly, H. WilJcinsoni, a pretty, flatly coiled, 

 and equally rare shell, aiter the late Mr. H. T. Wilkinson, Visiting Magis- 

 trate. In addition to the species already mentioned, two others have been 

 described, but wo failed to rediscover the last named, viz., H. texlrix, Pfr.,J 

 and H. cimex, Pf r. ;§ the latter a dark brown shell, with a perspective umbilicus. 

 The former is said, by Mr. A. Morton, || to occur "on Mount Grower, 2,840 

 feet above the level of the sea," i.e., on the summit. A fine new species of 

 Vitrina was found on the stems and leaf sheaths of the palms growing on 

 the lower grounds, {Kentia Belmoreana, the " Curly Palm," and Kentia 

 Forsferiana, the "Thatch Palm"), and is called by Mr. Brazier, Vitrina 

 JEtheridgei. In a similar position we also found Helicarion Hilli, Cox,*^ 

 but did not trace it above a height of 400 to 500 feet. On the other hand Mr. 

 Morton quotes** Helix Hilli, from the summit of Mount Gower, but as there 

 is no species of that name on the Island, he probably refers to the Helicarion. 



* Description of new Land Sh 'Us from Australia anci tho Solomon IsLuids. Proc Zool 

 Soc, 187.3, p. 1-18. 



t Description of Six new sp3ciej of Land Shells from Australia and Lord Howe's Island 

 loc.cit., 1872, -p. 617. 



t Pros. Zool. Soc, 1885, p. 92. 



I Ihid, 1854, p. 288. 



II Report to the Trustees of the Australian Museinn, (Lord Howe Island, Preieiil Slate 

 ^c), 1882, p. 12. 



*! Description of ISTew Land Shells from Australia and the Solomon Islands J'roc Zool 

 Soc, 1773, p. 151, t. 16, f. 7, a-b. 



** Ijoc. fit. 



