HELIX. 113 



somewhat angulated above ; outer lip thick, reflected, especially- 

 over the umbilicus ; i7iner lip a mere film which is spread over 

 the base of the penultimate whorl ; umbilicus very narrow. 



Inhabits woods and hedgerows, as well as grassy 

 places on chalky soil, chiefly in the south of England. 

 It does not appear to have been found either in 

 Scotland or Ireland, and its range in England does 

 not extend further north than the Midland counties. 

 It was at one time supposed to have been introduced 

 into this country by the Romans, as well as more 

 recently by some of our own countrymen ; but Gwyn 

 Jeffreys, upon sufficiently strong grounds, believes it 

 to be indigenous. 



In France, Belgium, and elsewhere on the Con- 

 tinent, this species is used and esteemed as an article 

 of food, and is exposed for sale in the markets. It is 

 by far the largest of our land shells. " M. Gaspard 

 says that when the period of hibernating has arrived 

 these snails become indolent, lose their appetite, and 

 associate together. Each snail then excavates with 

 its large and muscular foot a hole in the ground, just 

 large enough to contain the shell. This it roofs in 

 and lines with earth and dead leaves, making with its 

 slime a kind of mortar, and smoothing over the inner 

 surface of its winter domicile. Having accomplished 

 this, it closes the mouth of the shell with a thick 

 calcareous lid, the substance of which, when first 

 poured out from the edges of the mantle, resembles 

 liquid plaster of Paris. It then withdraws its body 

 far into the interior of the shell, covering, as it retires, 

 the empty space with several layers in succession of a 

 fine membrane or film, in order the more completely 



I 



