273 
Geographical Distribution of BuHmus. 
plied : Only wait till the dews come, and they will be all alive 
again/^ Mr. Cuming rejoined : I suppose you mean when it 
rains.^^ The man, however, in perfect astonishment inquired 
what he meant ; though a sexagenarian, he had never heard of 
such a thing as rain. 
The Bulimi vary in their mode of propagation : fragile species 
with the lip of the shell simple are mostly viviparous, while those 
with a reflected lip are oviparous. The arboreal species of the Phi- 
lippines deposit their eggs in little clusters on the trees, between 
two leaves which the animal manages to curl up, one upon the 
other, so as to form a receptacle for their protection ; and so far 
as Mr. Cuming’s observations go, they are all soft, like snakes’ 
eggs, with the single exception of the B. Mindoroensis, in which 
instance the eggs are calcareous, deposited upon a leaf in parallel 
rows, each standing perpendicularly on end, attached at the base 
by a glutinous substance. 
The habits of the Bulimi in the two widely-remote countries 
explored by Mr. Cuming having been treated of in the foregoing 
remarks, it only remains to speak of them in other parts. Turn- 
ing to New Holland, we are unexpectedly surprised to find that 
the genus is there represented to an extremely limited extent. 
I am not aware of more than three species having been found in 
this wide expanse of country, although several fine Helices have 
been discovered ; and in a region of which the Fauna and Flora 
exhibit so luxuriant and distinctive a character, the scarcity of a 
genus of so much importance in the Eastern Isles is remarkable. 
The same observation ^applies to New Zealand, from whence, so 
far as the interior of the islands of that group has been visited, 
no more than one or two species have been received. In Africa, 
the Bulimi are almost as great strangers as in the localities just 
spoken of ; throughout the whole extent of land yet explored of 
this vast continent, scarcely a dozen species have been obtained. 
The Bulimi are here replaced by Achatince. Such a phsenomenon 
may also be observed in some of the islands of the Pacific ; in 
the Sandwich Islands the Bulimi are replaced by the genus Acha- 
tinellay and in the Society Islands their place is occupied by the 
Partulce. In the West Indies the genera Achatina and Glandina 
seem to prevail. Howsoever abundant is the genus Bulimus in 
most of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, few species ap- 
pear to inhabit the great territories of India and China. On the 
coast of Borneo a beautiful one was recently discovered by Mr. 
Adams of H.M.S. Samarang by the accidental falling of a tree 
in a woody islet situated between Banguey and Balambangan ; 
but they are of rare occurrence in that locality. In Europe, 
where nature is exposed to the vicissitudes of a colder climate, the 
Bulimi are mostly small, and exhibit no brilliancy of colour ; so 
