414 On the Habits of the Paludmce. [Sept. 



The circumstance of these shells burying themselves beneath the sur- 

 face of the earth is by no means peculiar to them ; both the AmpuU 

 larice, Planorbes,an& Paludince, being found in similar situations dur- 

 ing the heats of the dry season, as I should suppose Mr. Benson 

 must have observed; — of this I have abundant proof before me in a 

 hollow, which being now full of water, forms a tolerably large jhil, in 

 which all these species occur plentifully ; but a fortnight or three weeks 

 ago this same hollow was as hard and dry as the walls of my bungalow, 

 and yet by digging a very little way below the surface, I found both 

 Ampullarice and Paludince*^ which on being left in a tub of water for 

 about a quarter of an hour, began to crawl about in great vigor. — At 

 the bottom of the tub I placed a quantity of mud, about nine inches or 

 a foot deep, and when after some days, the water by not being renewed, 

 had all evaporated, the shells of both genera had disappeared, and were 

 buried in the mud at the bottom. I allowed them to remain thus for 

 a few days, until the mud became dry, and I could not disengage them 

 from it, without digging them out, whem I again furnished them with 

 water, which by moistening the earth enabled them to force a passage 

 through it. 



The ova of Ampullarice occur very abundantly at this season, in the 

 small jhil near my house, being deposited in beautiful clusters among 

 the long grass and weeds just above the water mark ; in some instances, 

 I saw the animals in the act of depositing them. At first they are ra- 

 ther soft, and contain a gelatinous transparent substance, like the white 

 of an egg, but thicker ; in a few hours, they become brittle and covered 

 with a calcareous shell, of a pure white. When fresh and moist, they are 

 very heavy, but become remarkably light on drying. In shape they 

 are sometimes round, sometimes oval, and resemble small caraway com- 

 fits stuck together in bunches. 



If my present communication be deemed acceptable, I shall have plea- 

 sure in continuing from time to time to furnish you with a few lucubra- 

 tions on similar subjects. 



Mirzapore, 23rd July, 1832. 



Note. We shall always be happy to receive Lieut. Hutton's communications, which 

 are those of a zealous amateur in a field hitherto but little explored. 



The doubt expressed by the author as to the first of his species may perhaps 

 reasonably be extended to both, if the structure of the operculum be allowed to 

 indicate the structure of the animal ; and neither the one nor the other of these 

 Molluscs would belong to the genus Paludina. 



* Paludince with corneous operculum, shell thin and pale-greenish ; animal with 

 the head and ttntacula spotted, orange and black. 



