AMERICAN LAND SHELLS. 



I.— HABITS AND PEOPEETIES. 



The snails live mostly in tlie forest, sheltered under the trunks of 

 fallen trees, layers of decaying leaves, stones, or in the soil itself. In 

 these situations they pass the greater part of their lives. In the early 

 days of spring, they sometimes assemble in considerable numbers, in 

 warm and sunny situations, where they pass hours in indolent enjoy- 

 ment of the warmth and animating influence of the sunshine. Whether 

 these meetings serve any useful purpose in the economy of the animal, 

 or are caused by the pleasurable sensation and renewed strength de- 

 rived from the warmth of the situation after the debility of their win- 

 ters torpidity, is uncertain ; it is probable, however, that they precede 

 the business of procreation. It is certain that they last but a short time, 

 and that after early spring, the animals are to be found in their usual 

 retreats. 



In the course of the months of May or June, earlier or later, according 

 to the locality and as the season is more or less warm, they begin to lay 

 their eggs.* These are deposited, to the number of from thirty to fifty 

 and even more, in the moist and light mould, sheltered from the sun's 

 rays by leaves, or at the side of logs and stones, without any order, and 

 slightly agglutinated together. The depth of the deposit is usually meas- 

 ured by the extreme length of the animal, which thrusts its head and 

 body into the soil to the utmost extent, while the shell remains at the 

 surface 5 but sometimes the animal burrows three or four inches deep 

 before making the deposit, in order to insure a sufficiently moist posi- 

 tion. Three^or four such deposits, and sometimes more, are made by 

 one animal during the summer and autumn. When the deposit is com- 

 plete it is abandoned by the animal. The eggs vary in size according 

 to the magnitude of the species producing them. They are nearly glob- 

 ular, one axis being somewhat longer than the other, white and opaque. 

 They consist, in general, of an external, semicalcareous, elastic mem- 



* A few species are viviparous. 



