258 HELICID.E. 



black like the mantle, as well as with milk-white dots on the 

 sole ; tail very narrow, slightly rounded at the extremity. 



Shell oval or inclined to cylindrical, rather solid for its size, 

 semitransparent, glossy, reddish-brown or yello"wish-horncolour, 

 very faintly striate in the line of growth, and also marked with a 

 few obscure spiral strias : jperiphery rounded : epidermis slight : 

 whorls 4:\, convex, but not very tumid, the last being nearly 

 as large as the rest of the shell, and the first whorl and a half 

 very small in proportion : spire short, abrupt and bluntly 

 pointed : suture moderately deep : mouth semioval, rather 

 higher than broad ; teeth four or five, arranged as follows — 

 one sharp and prominent tooth on the middle of the pillar, one 

 strong and thick tooth on the pillar lip, and two or three plate- 

 like teeth (more frequently the latter number) inside the 

 outer lip ; these last or labial teeth are seated considerably 

 within the mouth and appear to spring from a kind of rib, 

 which is formed inside this part of the lip and corresponds in 

 position with an outer rib of greater breadth and thickness ; 

 the third labial tooth is the smallest : outer lip rather thin, very 

 little reflected, strengthened by the outer rib above noticed, 

 which is sometimes reddish-brown like the rest of the shell, 

 but occasionally of a lighter colour ; outer edge abruptly 

 inflected : inner lip thickened in adult specimens : umhilicus 

 small and narrow, but rather deep. L. 0-065. B. 0*04. 



Var. pallida. Shell thinner and of a lighter colour. 



Habitat : Under stones and logs of wood, and at the 

 roots of grass, on hills and almost everywhere in this 

 country, from the Moray Firth district to Guernsey. 

 The variety inhabits marshy places, and has been found 

 by Mr. Daniel at Wool in Dorsetshire, and by myself 

 in the North of Devon as well as in Connemara with 

 V. Moulinsiana. This variety has probably been mis- 

 taken by collectors for V. alpestris. The present species 

 is not uncommon in our upper tertiary strata. It is 

 widely distributed abroad from Siberia and Finland to 

 Algeria and Sicily ; and it even reaches the Azores. 



This is a tolerably active and lively little creature, 

 crawling by jerks and carrying its shell nearly upright. 



