240 POPULAR BRITISH CONCHOLOGY. 



of most remarkable beauty, when a boy, roving about the 

 chalk hollows of Greenhithe. The ground-colour of the 

 shells was light yellow, and the spots and bands clear and 

 brilliant. But the great prize was a single specimen, with 

 the whorls reversed, or turned in the opposite direction to 

 the usual form. Although this happens not unfrequently 

 with some other species, and even with H, asjiersa in 

 Erance, it is extremely rare in England. In fact, I believe 

 this was the first authenticated instance of a British reversed 

 aspersa. The first collector to whom it was shown was 

 glad to give a high price for it, and many a long day was 

 the same locality searched, and the same bushes beaten, but 

 without success. 



Those gardens which are enclosed by old walls and thick 

 hedges are most liable to the mischief arisiug from the vo- 

 racious habits of these molluscs. In these retreats, where 

 they can find holes and crevices for retirement, they greatly 

 abound. As soon as they feel the cold, they withdraw into 

 winter- quarters, creeping into cracks and under stones, and 

 clustering together, and sometimes clinging to each other. 

 When a shell is taken out of one of these corners, the aper- 

 ture is often found with a hard white covering, cemented 

 to the edge and completely enclosing the animal. This 



