1834.] On the Land Shells of India. 88 



No. 3. — Genus Helix ? 



Animal. — Dark brown or blackish, with four tentacula-, the two superior 

 ones being longest, and bearing the eyes at their summits ; tentacula 

 clubbed or forming a button at the tips, retractile ; body elongate, with 

 a hooked process on the extremity or tail, pointing backwards : from 

 the right side of the animal proceed two narrow, flat, gradually-pointed 

 filaments or tentacula, which, when the animal is in motion, are kept 

 constantly playing over the surface of the shell, and in all probability 

 give it the high polish it possesses. 



Shell. — Thin, fragile, pellucid, with a small pillar cavity, not disco- 

 vering the previous whorls ; whorls six or seven in number ; colour 

 pale brownish ; shell very glassy, with fine smooth polish ; aperture 

 lunated, margins edged and disunited, being interrupted by the body 

 whorl ; diameter about one inch ; spire flattened, as are also the sides 

 of the shell more or less. 



I have placed a mark of doubt to the generic name, because I do not 

 find in the description of the genus Helix any allusion made to the 

 process on the tail of my specimen, nor to the two tentacula proceeding 

 from the right side of the animal. I found specimens of these shells, 

 dead, in dry ravines, and on the banks of the Ganges. 



They live however in rocky situations, so that their being found in 

 the above-mentioned places must be owing to the mountain streams 

 having carried them off during the rains. 



I procured living specimens at Tara, in the range of rocky hills near 

 Mirzapur, in the month of August, 1832. In wet weather, or more 

 properly speaking, during the rains, they sally forth from their retreats 

 in quest of food, which consists chiefly of vegetable matter. They pre- 

 fer the early hours of morning to feed in, before the sun has sufficient 

 power to become distressing to them ; they appear to require a great 

 deal of moisture, while in motion, without which the slimy matter, which 

 exudes plentifully from their bodies, becomes so thick as to impede the 

 progress of the animal : I observed this to be the case with several 

 which I kept alive for some time ; when a few drops of water were 

 sprinkled upon it, the animal put itself in motion, and continued so to 

 do, until the slimy matter became too thick to allow it to proceed 

 without evident exertion. I never found these shells in motion, except 

 on very wet days, and the above circumstance may probably be the rea- 

 son. At the close of the rainy season, they deposit their eggs in the 

 ground, and retire to some secure retreat, where they remain during 

 the cold and dry seasons of the year, protected from the weather by the 

 dark caves or blocks of stone among which they conceal themselves, 

 shutting up the aperture of the shell with a viscous fluid, which soon 

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