SG MANUAL OF THE MOLLUSCA, 
yoleanic. The indigenous plants are all peculiar, and not more 
related to those of Western Africa than to Brazil.* The land 
shells are also peculiar; 13 species have been described, viz. -— 
Helix, ~ sp, Bulimus 5, Achatina 2, Pupa 1, Succinea (Helisiga) 
2. As many more have been met with only in the condition of 
dead shells, rarely retaining their colour and translucency. 
They are found beneath the surface-soil in the sides of ravines 
worn by the heavy rains, at a height of 1,200 to 1,700 feet. 
‘‘Their extinction has probably been caused by the entire de- 
struction of the woods, and the consequent loss of food and 
shelter, which occurred during the early part of last century.” 
(Darwin’s Journal, p. 488.) A living Bulimus, related to the 
extinct B. Blofieldi, is found feeding on the cabbage-trees, only 
on the highest points of the island. 
Latinect Land-shells of St. Helena.t 
Bulimus auris vulpinus. Bulimus relegatus, 
- Darwini. Helix bilamellata. 
“9 Blofieldi. »  polyodon. 
Sealei. s  spurca. 
“5 subplicatus. »  biplicata. 
“5 terebellum. 5,  Alexandri. 
es fossilis. Succinea Bensoni, 
The large Bulimus, (fig. 123, p. 291), has no living analogue in 
Africa, but is a member of a group characteristic of tropical 
America (to which the names Plecochilus, Pachyotis and Caprella 
have been given), including B. signatus, B. bilabiatus, B. goni- 
ostomus, and especially B. sulcatus (Chilonopsis, Fischer) of St. 
Iago.{ The four next species belong to the same type, but are 
smaller and slenderer. ‘‘ The marine mollusks of the coast of 
- St. Helena would lead us to infer the very ancient isolation of 
that island, whilst at the same time a pre-existing closer 
geographical relationship between the African and the American 
* “Tt might perhaps have been expected that the examination of the vicinity of the 
Congo would have thrown some light on the origin, if I may so express myself, of the 
Flora of St. Helena. This, however, has not proved to be the case; for neither has a 
single indigenous species, nor have any of the principal genera characterising the 
vegetation of that island, been found either on the banks of the Congo, or on any other 
part of this coast of Africa.””—R. Brown, Appendix to Captain Tuckey’s Narrative of 
the Congo Expedition (p. 476). 1818. 
t G. Sowerby in Darwin's “ Volcanic Islands,” p. 73. Forbes, Journ. Geol. Soc, 
1852, p. 197.—Benson, An. Nat. Hist. 1851, vii. 263. 
¢ As Dr. Pfeiffer includes this (with a sign of doubt) amongst the synonyms of 
B. auris-vulpinus, he must have suspected that the specimens came from St. Helena 
and not from St, Iago. The only other group of Bulimi resembling the St. Helena 
snells occurs in the Pacific Islands:—Bulimus Caledonicus at Mulgrave J., B. auris 
zcvine at the Solomons, and B. shongi in New Zealand, 
