NEW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 257 December 1979 vage 
emerged and during the last two years is steadily sinking back. 
varts of the roads are also Sinking after the earthquake in 1977. 
On January 17,1979 a severe earthslide took place in Flores due to 
flash floods which had filled the crater of an inactive volcano; 
due to the mass of water it broke out at nine places, covering 
mountain villages, plantations, gardens, all the way down to the 
beach and into the sea. Seven of the outbreaks affected the roads 
I usually travel. Schools, however primitive, were completely cov- 
ered, smaller buildings pushed and crushed. Sometimes I Saw only 
the top of a coconut tree looking through the dirt-masses. Huge 
boulders came down and moved within the slides. 
Close by and partly affected is the habitat of that beautiful snail, 
Amphidromus floresianus. After searching three days I had to give 
up. What had not been covered with masses of earth was covered with 
a very dense growth of thorny creeper. ‘The little trees where A. 
floresianus likes to stay were dead, most probably due to that mat- 
ting creeper which seemed to strangle everything. I had one planta- 
tion worker with me, besides my Balinese protege who traveled with 
me. he worker cut the path for me to get to the area. We did at 
several places cut and draw back the creeper-mat like a curtain. I 
was surprised to find at the underside of the creeper whole colonies 
of another snail (not pretty), with a very thin shell which looks 
interesting as long as the animal is in it. Sort of black-white- 
rust checkered. The local people consider it poison. I had found 
a few of these snails years ago and knew about but could not identi- 
fy them. Now it seems to rule that area. I brought some for Dr. 
Alan Solem and will tell him all about it, and that I think it may 
be responsible for the 
absence of amphidromus. 
Another thought crossing 
my mind is that I have 
never received any posi- 
tive answer as to whether 
the identification of the 
Amphidromus is 100% cor- 
rect. I had this snail 
for two years in Brussels, 
Belgium without results 
and just last year took 
the animal back and sent 
it to Alan Solem, as you 
know he is No. 1 in the 
USA for Amphidromus. As 
yet he has made no com- 

ments. 
: According to the original 
Amphidromus (Syndromus) floresiana description,* the shell 
Fulton, 1897. Flores Island, Indonesia should have a purplish 
i! ; i Amphidromus lip -- which it has not ae 
See: The Land Snail, Genus Amp : AoeEn! 6 Minoket Oe tt 
A Synoptic Catalogue, by F. F. Laidlaw & 
A. Solem. Fieldiana: Zoology 41(4)569 + must be Amphidromus flo- 
516, Aug. 24, 1961, Published by Field resianus -- or a new spe- 
Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Ill. cies. 




