The Little Agate Shells Family
THE LITTLE AGATE SHELLS FAMILY ACHATINELLID/E Shell small, conical, dextral or sinistral, solid; columella plaited, lip thickened within the aperture.
Genus ACHATINELLA, Swains.
Shell smooth, whorls six or seven, banded and spotted with bright colours; columella short, callous, or toothed, often twisted; 276 The Agate Shells aperture small. A very large genus confined to the Hawaiian Islands. They live upon trees and bushes from the central water shed of each island down to sea level. Each isolated mountain valley has its own peculiar species. Among them are some of the most gaily painted shells known. A calamity fell upon the whole genus (and upon conchologists) when cattle were introduced into the Islands. The cropping of foliage by goats has destroyed vast tracts of undergrowth where the Achatine112 lived. Grazing herds of larger cattle are stripping the wooded regions. Many species have already disappeared.
The collector is always in an ecstatic mood when he is finding plenty of the specimens he seeks. If they are beauties, the greater is his joy. A writer to the Quarterly Journal of Conchology had an added thrill.
When up the mountains of Oahu I heard the grandest but wildest music, as from hundred of /E.°lian harps, wafted to me on the breezes, and my companion, a native, told me it came from the singing shells, as he called them. It was sublime. I could not believe it, but a tree close at hand proved it. On it were many of the Achatinellx, the animals drawing after them their shells, which grated against the wood and so caused the sound; the multitude of sounds produced the fanciful music. From this one tree I took seventy shells of all varieties.
The Beautiful Agate Shell (A. pulcherrinia, Swains.) has a conical shell, blunt at the apex, its shining olive-green surface decorated with spiral bands of brown. Some have only a stripe in the suture. Others have several bands of varying widths.
Length, I inch.
Habitat.— Oahu.
The Rosy Agate Shell (A. rosea, Swains.) is white tinged with pink which gradually is intensified till it becomes a bright rosy rim inside the lip. Length, 4 inch.
The Partridge Agate (A. perdix, Rye.) is a warm chestnut streaked across the whorls with white so as to imitate the pattern of the plumage of a partridge. Length, I inch.
Habitat.—Maui.
The Splendid Agate (A. splendida, Newc.) is wound with close lines of white and brownish yellow, of various widths. The mouth is large and oval, apex sharp, whorls rounded, suture deep. Length, I inch.
Habitat.— Maui.
The Agate Shells The Bloody Agate (A. sanguinea, Newc.) has a pointed spire of flattened whorls. The ground colour of dark red is crossed by an irregular system of zigzag streaks of black. Length, I inch.
Habitat.— Lehiu, Oahu.
Genus CARELIA, H. and A. Ads.
Shell long, turriculated, with flattened whorls; columella strongly arched and twisted; aperture small. Few species in Hawaiian Islands.
The shells of this genus are larger than in Achatinella. They show a prevailing preference for shades of brown.
The Obelisk Carelia (C. obeliscus, Rye.) is three times as high as its width at base. There is a sharp median angle on the body whorl. Dark brown at base, the colour gradually fades toward the blunt apex.. Length, 3 inches.
Habitat.— Hawaii.
Cuming's Carelia
(D. Cumingiana, Pfr.) is the handsomest species. Each flattened whorl is bevelled at both margins as if by an edged tool, making the suture a regular channel, which is outlined with white spiral lines. The browns in the elongated spire emulate the shading in a middle-aged meerschaum pipe. Length, 2 inches.
Habitat.— Kauai.
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