62 Land Shells of the Tenasserim Provinces. [Jan. 



The Land Shells of the Tenasserim Provinces, by Rev. F. Mason, 

 A. M., Corresponding Member of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, U. 8* 



Being requested, a few years ago, by a distinguished American Con- 

 cliologist, to send him some land and fresh water shells, I subsequent- 

 ly collected every species I could find in the Provinces, and transmitted 

 specimens of each to America, where they were examined by my cor- 

 respondent, and nearly forty species pronounced new. Most of them 

 may be found characterised, or described, in the Proceedings or Jour- 

 nal of the Boston Society of Natural History. 



Dr. Gould wrote me that he had furnished his correspondents in 

 London and Paris with specimens of all the new shells I had sent him ; 

 but on a recent visit to the Museum of the Asiatic Society, I could not 

 find a single specimen of our Tenasserim land shells. It has therefore 

 occurred to me that a Catalogue of all the land shells I have noticed 

 in the Tenasserim Provinces, with a few brief notices of each, might 

 not be unacceptable to the readers of the Journal ; and whenever I falL 

 in with my collections again, I shall endeavour to furnish the Museum 

 with specimens of each species. 



The Genus Helix is the most abundant in species ; there being nine 

 at least, and all new. 



H. procumbens, Gould, is a flat discoidal shell, with four whorls, 

 the outer one deflected. " Diameter f of an inch ; height \ of an inch. 

 Belongs to the group of which H. planulata is the type."* 



H. infrendens, Gould, is a small orbicular shell with three oblique 

 teeth. " Diameter f of an inch ; height \ of an inch. Very closely 

 allied to H. rangiana, Fer." 



H. anceps,f Gould, is a fragile shell with six whorls. « Diameter 

 T ^o of an inch ; height less than f- of an inch. In general form, color, 

 and sculpture, it resembles H. acies, Fer. (acutimargo, Rosm.) but is 

 much smaller, and not widely umbilicated." 



H. honesta,% Gould, is a small thin shell with five whorls. "Dia- 



* As Mr. Mason has been good enough to furnish us with specimens of some of the 

 shells enumerated in the present paper, we are enabled to identify several of these with 

 species already described by Benson and others. — Eds. 



t H. serrula, Benson. — Eds. % Nanina vesicula, Benson. — Eds. 



