158 HELICID.^. 



« 



of dead individuals in January, after tlie close of the 

 breeding-season. Miiller lias noticed that it is most 

 lively during rain, and that it does not soon die if put in 

 water. He added that while it was under water it ex- 

 tended all its body except the tentacles, which were 

 drawn in, and feigned death; that after the lapse of 

 some hours it crept out of the water cautiously and by 

 degrees, and if it was not alarmed by the observer it 

 stretched out its horns, and after crawling into some 

 place of shelter withdrew its body into the shell. Mr. 

 Daniel, having collected both of these species in Ger- 

 many, informs me that V. pellucida is much more gre- 

 garious than V. diaphana. 



Genus III. ZONI'TES*, De Montfort. PI. VI. f. 7-9. 



Body long, rather bulky, but always capable of being con- 

 tained within the shell : mantle thick and slightly reflected : 

 tentacles 4, cylindrical, swollen or bulbous at the tips : foot 

 narrow. 



Shell conical, usually depressed, thin and semitransparent, 

 extremely glossy : sjyire composed of several whorls : mouth 

 obliquely semilunar : outer lip thin : umbilicus more or less 

 distinct. 



These pretty little snails resemble the Vitrince in the 

 bulkiness of their bodies and the glassy appearance of 

 their shells, as well as in the structure and arrangement 

 of their dental apparatus or lingual riband. The edge 

 teeth are hooked in the present genus and Vitrina, but 

 serrated or notched in Helios. Their habits also are 

 nearly the same as those of the VitrincBj being rather 

 zoophagous than phytophagous. They greedily devour 

 all kinds of animal food, whether fresh or putrid ; and 



* From zona, a girdle. 



