The Pyramid Snails

Habitat.— Vancouver Island to California.

E. Mormomum, Pfr., has a more flattened spire. The thin body whorl, pale reddish, with arching stria, is adorned by a chestnut band, doubly edged with white. The aperture is ear shaped and oblique, its rim white and recurved. Diameter, I inch; height, inch.

Habitat.— Mountains of California.

The Point Cypress Snail (E. Dupetithouarsi, Desh.) is low spired, its seven brown whorls decorated with a yellow-edged, almost black median band. The body is grayish, and warty. Diameter, / inch.

Professor Keep found these snails asleep in debris under the gnarled old veteran cypresses of Monterey. They were dormant in the drought of summer, and many shells were empty, punctured by hungry jays. The living ones became quite active when put into a damp fernery, and sprinkled with water.

E. sequoicola, Coop., which lives among the red-woods near Santa Cruz, has a more elevated spire, roughened by fine ridges, and granulated about the apex.

E. Traskii, Newc., and E. Carpenteri, Newc., each wears a band of brown, edged with yellow or white, on a horn-coloured, striated surface. The latter is more delicately built throughout. Diameter, less than i inch.

Habitat.— Southern California.

E. Coloradoensis, Strns., is low-spired, fragile and pale, with a narrow red band. The mouth is large. It was found at a high elevation near the Grand Canon of the Colorado. Diameter, / inch.

The Dented Snail (E. arrosa, Gld.) has a more solid and elevated spire than the preceding species, with a dark band on the yellowish brown coils. The rough surface has furrows of different 268 North American Land Snails lengths. The pit is not covered by the reflected inner lip.

Diameter, inches.

Habitat.— Central California coast.

E.

Californiensis, Lea, is nearly globular, thin and banded. It lives in sandy localities near the ocean, burying itself in summer under clumps of rattleweed. There are numerous varieties.

Diameter and height, I inch.

Habitat.— Monterey.

E. tudiculata,

Binney, olive brown, with a wide, dark band in a zone of paler hue, has a rough, indented surface, though the shell is thin. The lip is white and thickened near the pit. Dia meter, I inch.

Habitat.— Cen tral and Southern California.

The Snail (E. rufocincta, Newc.), with a narrow girdle, is a low-spired, thin, smooth shell, inch in diameter.

Habitat.— Santa Catalina Island.

Several other western species are described by Professor Keep.

Genus VALLONIA, Risso Shell minute, discoid, of three to four whorls; umbilicus wide open; aperture roundish, with flaring white rim, nearly circular.

V. pulchella,

Mull., deserves mention here because it covers the northern hemisphere, and has colonised some regions south of the equator. It is found in companies, living under bark of trees, fragments of rock, or on the moss of bogs, always away from the light. Its transparency and its minute size make for protection ; it is only s inch across. No wonder it lives its life with little molestation. It frequently appears suddenly and in great numbers in places where it was unknown before. In this way, Dr. Stearns found it in his yard in Los Angeles. It is also reported from Utah and other western states.

Ashmunella rhyssa, Dall.,

is a low-spired, pitted snail, finely cross-wrinkled, with a white lip that flares, but is constricted just inside the aperture, which has a thickened tooth on its inner wall. Diameter, inch.

Habitat.— Mountains of New Mexico.

A.

Levettei, Bld., is a thin, shining, transparent, orb-snail, 269 North American Land Snails of seven whorls, with teeth on both outer and inner lips. Dia meter to I of an inch. Sante Fe, N. M.