336 A MANUAL OF AMERICAN LAND SHELLS. 



Family SUCCINID^. 



SIJCCI]\EA,1)R. 



Animal heliciform, thick au<l blnut before, short and pointed behind ; 

 Fig. 364. mantle central, simple, protected by a shell, which 



does not conceal the whole retracted animal ; respir- 

 atory and anal orifices on the right of the mantle 

 A uinmi of ^«^. rusticana. ©dge, nudcr the peristome ; generative orifice behind 

 the right eye-peduncle; no caudal mucus pore; locomotive disk (?). 



Shell imperforate, thin, ovate or oblong; aperture large, obliquely 

 oval; columella simple, acute; i)eristome simple, straight. 



The genus is world-wide in its distribution. 



The habits of the animal do not vary much from those of Helix. They 

 are described in many works as being amphibious, which means that 

 they possess the power of living in the water as well as upon the land. 

 Such appears to have been the opinion of Lamarck. They are not, how- 

 ever, in any proper sense amphibious, as they live upon the land ex- 

 clusively and breathe air, and some of them occupy situations very 

 distant from bodies of water. It is not difficult, however, to account 

 for this general belief. Some of the species inhabit wet localities at the 

 borders of swamps and ponds, and are even found attached to the 

 leaves of plants growing out of the water. They resemble also, in ex- 

 ternal characters, certain species of Limncva^ which live in the water 

 itself. The two have therefore been confounded in pojjular belief. 



It is also stated very generally that they cannot withdraw their 

 bodies entirely into their shells. This is certainly an error as regards 

 the American species, and probably as to all others. They all retire 

 into their shells on the approach of winter and during seasons of 

 drought; every i)art of the body is then retracted within the plane of 

 the aperture, and over it is extended a membranous epiphragm, like 

 that of our Helices. They cannot, however, retract the body much be- 

 yond the plane of the mouth, and the foot is never wholly drawn into 

 the aperture of the mantle and concealed by it, as in Helix, the pos- 

 terior extremity of the locomotive disk being always visible, on a level 

 with the mantle or collar. 



The epiphragm sometimes possesses considerable thickness and con- 

 sistence. 



