Zoological Illustrations, Volume 3: or, Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting AnimalsSwainson, William
Science
Zoological Illustrations, Volume 3: or, Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals
Swainson, William
Animals -- Pictorial works
It is not my object to attach reproach to any body of men collectively, or
to any one individually; but truth is not to be concealed. Every writer who
has the advancement of his favourite study at heart, is bound (however
feebly) to advocate its cause. The truth of the preceding remarks cannot be
questioned; and it remains with those in power, to consider well, whether
such a state of things is consistent with the honour and reputation of the
country; with the justice due to those great men who founded the
institution; and to the expectations of the public, by whom it is
supported.
Warwick, October, 1823.
* * * * *
Pl. 120
[Illustration]
AMPULLARIA corrugata,
_Wrinkled Apple Snail._
* * * * *
GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 103.
* * * * *
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_A. testa globosa, corrugata, olivacea; spirae prominentis, acutae,
anfractibus ventricosis; aperturae margine crasso, fulvo, sulcato;
umbilico parvo, juxta labii interioris mediam posito; operculo
testaceo._
Shell globose, wrinkled, olive; spire prominent, acute, the whorls
ventricose; margin of the aperture thick, fulvous, grooved; umbilicus
small, linear, near the middle of the inner lip; operculum shelly.
Helix Ampullacea. _Linn. Gmelin_, _p._ 3626.
Ampullaria rugosa. _Sowerby, Genera of Shells_, _fas._ 4. _fig._ 1. 2.
* * * * *
The annexed figures of this hitherto undefined species will clearly show
its distinction from _Amp. globosa_, (pl. 119); and the specific characters
now framed for these two shells, will, I think, sufficiently distinguish
them from each other.
In comparison with _A. globosa_, this (even in the young state) is a
wrinkled, not a smooth shell, having the umbilicus placed near the middle,
not towards the base, of the inner lip: the spiral whorls are elevated and
ventricose, not depressed, and slightly convex; and the basal volution,
instead of being very wide on the upper part, (near the suture,) is widest
only in the middle. In young shells, the wrinkles and the marginated
aperture are less defined. When divested of its epidermis, the colour is
blueish white, with a few narrow bands of obscure purple. A specimen in my
own collection has the epidermis so thin, that the colours beneath it are
very conspicuous. The mouth inside is dark chesnut, with blackish bands;
the margin being pale yellow and slightly reflected. The umbilicus, both in
this and in _A. globosa_, is small and contracted, while in the real _A.
rugosa Lam._ (_Helix urceus Lin._) it is very large, round, and deep. This
latter shell, also, differs from both of the former, by having a thin, and
not a margined aperture.
Mr. Sowerby appears the only writer who has figured this shell, which he
has mistaken for the _A. rugosa_ of Lamarck. I am informed by Mr. Humphreys
it is a native of India.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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