Ah, Captain Thomas Hutton.  A member of the early British forces in
Colonial India.  Some of the earliest land snail species described from
Asia with GOOD locality data date from this paper (1834, On the land shells
of India, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1:81-93).  The species
were collected near Beana, over near Agra of Taj Mahal fame.  Species like
Pupoides coenopictus, Gulella bicolor (also widely introduced) and Allopeas
gracile originate from these early collections by this enlightened private
collector.  He was "trained" and assisted by the early Indian naturalist,
W. T. Blanford (actually there were two brothers Blanford, but W. T. did
more in malacology).  He ended up listing his findings as "species a",
"species b", etc. and then inserting names for each in a table on the last
page of the paper.  A little cumbersome, but valid.  None were illustrated.
His original specimens can be found in the Indian Museum in Calcutta and
the British Museum.  He did not publish too much, but what he did
accomplish was important.  After Blanford's death, the torch of Indian
malacology (particularly terrestrial), was passed on to Colonel H. H.
Godwin-Austen, a real character, whose contributions still form the
foundation of land snail systematics in all of southern Asia.
 
It is tempting, due to the early date of the collections of these species,
to postulate that they must have been originally from that area.  This may
be, but one must keep in perspective that that area of the world had
already been crossed by literally thousands of people, including the
largest armies of the day, for numerous generations, by 1834.  Allopeas
gracile and Gulella bicolor could have easily been transplanted from far
away locales even at that early time.
 
Hutton's contribution of 1849 is based on specimens obtained at the western
terminus of the Bolan Pass, Balochistan, "during the advance of the Army of
the Indus into Afghanisthan in 1839" on their way to tame the tribes to the
west.  The cause was futile, but great snails were found along the way.
Some of the same species were found which were originally encountered in
Beana.  Mention of these formed the basis for the early comments on the
biogeography of the area.
 
As an aside, this Hutton is NOT the same Hutton of New Zealand fame.  Some
people think so, but the latter is F. (I think) Hutton.
 
Well, enough of that for one day.  Back to work.
 
Kurt
 
At 06:41 PM 3/2/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear James,
>
>The green is a tip-off; you probably have Allopeas gracile (Hutton, 1834),
>the Graceful Awlsnail or a confamilial  (Subulinid) relative.  You will find
>a list of NE Florida terrestrial snails (etc.) on the Jacksonville Shell
>Club website.  There is about 80% concordance with your fauna.  Along with a
>few related species, the Graceful Awlsnail (I use upper-case; revisionists
>have push for "graceful awlsnail") is introduced, probably from subtropical
>or tropical Asia.
>
>Harry
>
>
>At 12:11 PM 3/2/99 -0600, you wrote:
>>Dear all, just a moment a go, I found a new type of snail.
>>It is pointed like an auger, but the top whorl is rounded and
>>looks like it was shortend greatly. Another key feature, the animal
>>is lime green. Can anyone help me with this?
>>
>>Kind Regards James
>>___________________________________________________________________
>>You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
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>>
>Harry G. Lee
>mailto: [log in to unmask]
>Suite 500, 1801 Barrs Street
>Jacksonville, FL  32204
>U. S. A.    904-384-6419
>Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
>http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/wfrank/jacksonv.htm
>
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