118 Contributions to Indian Malacology . [No. 2, 



Helix castra, Benson, on the hills of Balasore in Northern Orissa, and 

 more recently a single specimen of a shell perfectly undistinguishable 

 from Helix Huttoni, Pfeiffer, has occurred to us on the northern flank 

 of the Nilgiri mountains in Southern India.* Both of these species 

 have a wide distribution ; H. castra being known to range from 

 Sikkim to the Tenasseiim provinces, and H. Huttoni throughout 

 the greater portion of the Himalayas. Indeed it is more than pro- 

 bable, from an examination of recently collected specimens of H. 

 tapeina, Benson, that H. Huttoni is only a variety of that species, 

 an identity which, if substantiated, will extend its range to the 

 Khasi Hills and Burmah" where the variable but scarcely distinguish- 

 able H. rotatoria, V. d. Busch, replaces it, unless the latter also 

 prove to be only a variety. 



It is exceedingly probable that, as each region becomes more 

 thoroughly searched, many other species will be found to have a far 

 more extensive range than is at present supposed. The peninsula of 

 India is, as a rule, extremely poor in land shells, and the concbologist 

 may travel for miles over its plains without meeting with a single 

 mollusk. The plains of Bengal, from a space as large as the British 

 Isles, have scarcely furnished twenty species. On the contrary the 

 Himalayas, especially their eastern portion, and the Burmese penin- 

 sula, appear to be extremely rich both in species and individuals, a 

 circumstance doubtless intimately connected with the greater and 

 more constant humidity of the climate. With a few exceptions „ 

 Cis-o-angetic India has been fairly explored by conchologists, although 

 it has not been thoroughly searched. Of Trans-gangetic India, 

 nine-tenths are totally unexamined. At least half of the Himalayas 

 have never been visited, and all that has been carefully explored 

 consists of a considerable tract in the western Himalayas around 

 Simla and Masuri, and the outer hills of Sikkim, from which we 

 ourselves, but the other day, procured more than twenty undescribed 

 forms. The Khasi Hills, a small tract of country, have been fairly 

 examined, but the vast peninsula thence to Singapore has only been 

 searched in the immediate neighbourhood of Molmain, whilst a few- 

 shells have been collected during hurried visits, or (the larger species 



* Mr. Benson also informs us that he has received H.fastigiata, Hutt. from 

 the Nikiris. 



