BULIMUS 
Plate I. 
Genus BULIMUS, lamarck. 
Testa ovata, vel obhnga, vel turrita, ar^ractihus mtw per- 
paricis, ventricosis, nunc plurimis, contractis, aut fra- 
gilibus et scspe transluddis, aut crassiusculis, epidermide 
interdmn dupliciindutis; columella recta, interdum uwi- 
plicatd, basi nunguani truncatd; aperturd nonnunguam 
dkntaid,plerumque integrd, marginibus disjunctis, labro 
vel sirnpUd, vel rejlexo. Operculum nullum. 
Shell ovate, oblong, or turreted, whorls sometimes very 
few and ventricose, sometimes many and contracted, 
either fragile and often transparent, or rather thick, 
covered with, sometimes, a double diaphimous epi- 
dermis ; columella straight, sometimes one-plaited, 
never truncated at the base; aperture in some in- 
stances toothed, generally entire, with the margins 
disjoined, lip either simple or reflected. 
The beautiful forms and varieties of shells produced by 
those air-breathing moUusks, which, under the generic 
appellation of Bidimus, constitute an important division 
of the great tribe of Snails, have become objects of 
especial interest to the conchologist, owing to the zeal 
with which a few enterprising scientific travellers have 
lately penetrated into tropical countries in pursuit of them. 
It is, however, to the productive exertions of Mr. Cuming 
that we are mainly indebted for the newer and more 
attractive subjects of the present monograph. The re- 
searches of this ardent naturalist in the arid plains on the 
west side of the Andes, in the dense woods of West 
Columbia and Central America, and, more recently, in 
the luxuriant open forests of the Philippine Islands, whilst 
they present an instructive contrast, exceed any result 
the most sanguine collector could have anticipated. In 
the dry and barren regions of Western ChiU and Peru, 
the Bulimi are mostly small and of comparatively fragile 
structure; but in the beautiful islands of the Eastern 
Archipelago, where climate and vegetation combine to 
favom’ the grondh of arboreal species, the genus is 
represented with prolific splendour. Mr. Cuming must 
have truly felt like one transported to the fabled garden of 
the Hesperides, when beholding the lofty trees of these 
sunny isles laden with snails of such magnificent propor- 
tions. Aladdin, in the Arabian tale, could not, surely, 
have contemplated the rich clusters of vari-coloured fruit 
in the garden of the African Magician with more astonish- 
ment, nor probably gathered it with more avidity. 
“It was in 1836,” relates Mr. Broderip, “that Mr. 
Cuming proceeded to the Philippine Islands by permission 
of the Queen Kegent of Spain, and aided by powerful 
recommendations from her goveniment, which opened to 
him the interior of the islands, and caused him to be 
received with a noble hospitah'ty, equalled only by the 
warm interest which facilitated his pursuits wherever he 
arrived and made himself known.” Species of which we 
had but an imperfect knowledge, in consequence of the 
bad condition in which a stray individual chanced to 
reach our cabinets, were found in luxuriant plenty, and 
many new kinds were discovered in their airy solitude in 
equal abrmdance. Had De Eerussac, the enthusiastic 
admirer of this tribe, lived to see the glorious series of 
Bulimi accumulated in the Cumingian collection in different 
stages of growth, and in the finest state of preservation, 
from the egg to the adult, he would have been indeed 
amazed. Sorry am I that the limits of the present work 
will not allow me to illustrate more than two, or occa- 
sionally three, of the typical varieties of each species, and 
of these but a single view. 
The genus Bulimue, as restricted by Lamarck, compre- 
hends an extremely natural group, though presenting 
important differences of growth and texture ; and these 
variations are peculiarly local. In the Phffippine Islands, 
as just described, the species are of large and rather solid 
growth with a remarkable hydrophanous epidermis, that 
is, one permeable by water or other evaporable fluid. 
On the barren lulls of Lima and the sandy plains of Chili 
and Peru, they arc mostly smaE and delicately formed ; 
in Brazfl, the species are remarkable for having the aper- 
ture in frequent instances denticulated; and in New 
Caledonia, Venezuela, New Grenada, and New Hebrides, 
they not uncommonly exhibit, with equal peculiarity, a 
plaited ^ancwfe-like columella. 
It is a curious feature in the PhEippine species that 
the varieties of pattern, which constitute their chief orna- 
ment, reside only in the epidermis. The colours of the 
sheE rarely describe any sort of configuration : they are 
mostly blended into a uniform tint, over which a fanciful 
pattern is produced by the epidermis forming a double 
porous membrane in some places, and a single one only 
in others, developed, moreover, with the same continuous 
regularity as the textEe marking of a Volute or Cone. 
This phenomenon is easEy detected by immersing the 
sheE in water, when the Eght portion or upper porous 
April, 1848. 
