| OCR Text |
Show 488 MESSRS. ADAMS AND ANGAS ON NEW LAND-SHELLS. [June 6, sile organ in a very subordinate manner only. This defect is compensated by the development of an additional sharp denticle at the inner base of each claw, and of a spine vertically projecting from the flexor side of each finger and toe, which must immensely strengthen the power of the animal for holding on to branches, &c." * The posterior extremities are short, the legs very short and thick ; and the outer and inner toes are shorter and much thicker than the others, as in Nyctinomus ; but they are not fringed with long hairs. The feet are remarkably large, and much rotated outwards and forwards, so as to allow of easy progression. The structure of the sole of the foot aud of the inferior surface of the leg is very peculiar, and is well shown in the accompanying woodcut (fig. b). The plantar surface, including the toes, is covered with soft and very lax integument, deeply wrinkled; and each toe is marked by a central longitudinal groove with short grooves at right angles to it, as in the genus Hemidactylus (Geckotidae). The lax wrinkled integument covering the sole of the foot is continued along the inferior flattened surface of the ankle and leg. All these peculiarities of structure must accompany some corresponding peculiarities in the habits of this species. As the denticle at the base of the claw in Bampholeon spectrum evidently compensates that animal for the shortness of its tail, which is so effective a prehensile organ in other Chameleons, so I have no doubt the denticle at the base of the claw in Mystacina tuberculata compensates that species exceptionally for the imperfect condition of the fore limbs as organs of prehension; and this, taken into consideration with the peculiar manner in which the wings are protected from injury when not employed in flying, and with the manifestly adhesive nature of the sole of the foot and inferior surface of the legs, lead me to believe that this species hunts for its insect food, not only in the air, but also on the branches and leaves of trees, among which its peculiarities of structure most probably enable it to walk about with security and ease. 6. Descriptions of five n e w Species of Land-Shells from Madagascar, N e w Guinea, Central Australia, and the Solomon Islands. By H E N R Y A D A M S , F.L.S., and GEORGE FRENCH ANGAS, C.M.Z.S. & F.L.S. [Received May 29, 1876.] (Plate XLVII.) H E L I X M A L A N T E N S I S , n. sp. (Plate XLVII. figs. 1, 2, 3.) Shell imperforate, trochiform, rather solid, faintly obliquely striated, whitish, ornamented with several broad or narrow fulvous or dark chestnut bands, brown at the base ; spire turbinate; whorls * P. Z. S. 1874, p. 443, with a woodcut. |
