NO. 51.— -1900.] CEYLON MALACOLOGY. 133 



and the greater part of the forest land above an altitude of 

 2,000 ft. was still unopened.* 



It is much to be regretted that we have, at the present 

 time, no typical collection of Ceylon land shells available for 

 purposes of reference and comparison. With one exception, 

 the few collections that have been made appear to have been 

 subsequently scattered or destroyed ; the exception being 

 that of Benson, which is still preserved in the Cambridge 

 University Museum. I had an opportunity, while attending 

 the Congress of Zoology at Cambridge last year, of examining 

 the Benson collection. It consisted principally of low- 

 country shells, the greater number of which were collected 

 more than forty years ago. 



Most of the new species here enumerated were very 

 kindly examined and determined by my friend, Mr. E. R. 

 Sykes, the present Editor of the Zoological Record.^ I am 

 also much indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin-Austen, 

 F.R.S., for valuable Papers and assistance. 



In conclusion, I may be permitted to point out that the 

 study of the land mollusca of an agricultural country like 

 Ceylon is (apart from its purely scientific interest) of 

 special value, because it may furnish useful evidence on a 

 problem of great economic importance. I refer to the 

 question as to the nature of the relation which undoubtedly 

 exists between land shells and plants and the soil, concern- 

 ing which at the present time practically nothing is known. 

 There remains open, therefore, a wide field for observation 

 and experiment. _____ 



I take this opportunity of correcting the following errors 

 in my former Paper : — 



2* — Helix acuducta should be Euplecta prceamineons, 

 Sykes {n. sp.). 



* In 1892 M. E. Simon, of Paris, collected a number of shells in Nuwara 

 Eliya and the surrounding 1 districts. An account of these is to be found 

 in the Memoir by Dr. F. Jousseaume, referred to in my former Paper. 



f Fall descriptions of the new species by Mr. Sykes are to be found in 

 the Proceeding's of the Malacological Society of London for 1897-1899. 



