NOTE ON HELIX YATESII Cooper. 
BY HENRY HEMPHILL. 
There seems to be an erroneous impression prevailing among our 
conchologists in regard to the habits of this interesting little mol- 
lusk that needs to be corrected. The fact that the five dead speci- 
mens—two perfect and three imperfect ones—from which Dr. Cooper 
drew his descriptions of the shell and his genus Ammonitella, were 
found in the cave at Cave City, Calaveras County, California, has 
led some of the writers on our West Coast shells to regard this 
mollusk as a rare, isolated cave dweller, that prefers the shadow and 
gloom of caverns in which to pass its existence, rather than the light 
of the outside world. This, however, is a mistake which any intel- 
ligent or close observing collector can easily determine by a visit to 
the cave, and a short ramble over the hills in its vicinity. 
Several years ago I visited Calaveras County for the purpose of 
collecting this and the other shells of that region, and to my surprise 
I found this little mollusk near Murphy's, seven miles away from 
the cave, <estivating under stones on north hillsides, while numbers 
of dead shells lay bleaching in the sunshine, where they had fallen 
in the struggle for life. 
Around the entrance and on. the slopes of the hill in which the 
cave is situated, and also on the adjacent hills, it occurred plentiful- 
ly, and it is not a rare shell in these localities. 
On entering the cave I found but few specimens inside. Most of 
these I took from the crevices in the rocks on each side of the 
entrance within the cave, a few only being found on the floor, and 
none beyond a distance of fifty feet from the entrance, although I 
searched closely for this and other species with the aid of a good 
light. 
’ When fairly within the cave, and looking towards the entrance, | 
could see the daylight through the crevices between the rocks on 
each side of the opening through which we entered, which at once 
revealed to me the mystery of the presence of this mollusk within 
this cool and shady retreat. f 
To those acquainted with the habits of land snails it will be 
readily seen how these creatures, in seeking safe and convenient 
places in which to hibernate and pass the long, dry and hot sum- 
mer season and cold winter months, would naturally crawl into. 
