58 RAMBLES IN SEARCH OF SHELLS. 



The amber snails {Succinea putris and elegans) in 

 form and habits resemble the mud snails (Limncea), 

 as also in some respects the true snail (Helix), being 

 to a great extent amphibious. Sometimes they may 

 be seen crawling on stones under water, on mud, or on 

 the leaves of various aquatic plants ; at other times 

 they may be met with in comparatively dry spots 

 at a distance from water. The Reed Bunting, 

 Bearded Titmouse, and other small birds, which 

 are fond of feeding by the water's edge, take quan- 

 tities of these tiny molluscs. In the stomach of 

 the Bearded Titmouse has also been found Pupa 

 muscorum. The amber snails are very sluggish in 

 their habits, and secrete a quantity of slime. The 

 shells in appearance resemble those of Limnaa, but 

 are thinner, more transparent, of an amber colour 

 — hence the popular name for them — and have no 

 fold on the columella or pillar (PI. VII., figs. 7, 8). 

 The two species named above have been considered 

 by some conchologists to be mere varieties of the 

 same species, great variability of form being ob- 

 servable in all the species of the genus Succinea; 

 but elegans, or Pfeifferi, which is another name for 

 it, is said to differ from putris in the darker colour 



