82 RAMBLES IN SEARCH OF SHELLS. 



hazel, and on beech trees at some height from the 

 ground ; but these are the only localities for the 

 species in England with which we are acquainted. 



It is so very unlike any other British Helix that 

 it cannot fail to be recognized at once. The shell, 

 as we have said, is cheese-shaped — but it may be 

 desirable to add of the shape of a Cheshire cheese, 

 some cheeses, as the Dutch, being globular. It is 

 solid and opaque, of a reddish-brown colour, the 

 eperdimis clothed with stiff hairs, and with the outer 

 tip rose-coloured, very thick and reflected. The 

 umbilicus is large, exposing part of the whorls, and 

 all the internal spire. During the period of hyber- 

 nation the mouth of the shell is closed with a thick 

 chalky epiphragm, which contrasts strongly with the 

 rich reddish-brown colour of the shell itself. 



In similar situations — that is, among dead leaves 

 and moss in woods, as well as under fragments of 

 chalk — may be found the little prickly snail. Helix 

 aculeata (PI. IX., fig. 12), the shell of which mea- 

 sures about the tenth of an inch in breadth, and the 

 same in height. Its distinguishing character is that 

 the epidermis with which it is clothed rises, at fre- 

 quent and regular intervals in the middle of each 



