HELIX. 117 



transparent, bands reddish-brown. Guernsey, Sark, and 

 Herm, 



Monstrosities sometimes occur in which the spire is sinistral, 

 or the whorls are disjointed causing the shell to appear like a 

 corkscrew. 



5. H. nemora'lis,* Linne. Pl. VII. 



Body oblong, dark brown bordered with a paler tint, with 

 small, round, thickly set tubercles ; tentacles very long, slender, 

 of a dark brown colour, upper pair nearly cylindrical, somewhat 

 diverging, finely but distinctly tuberculated, slightly trans- 

 parent ; bulbs globular ; foot angulated in front, tapering to a 

 point behind; lingual ribbon with 135 rows of 100 teeth = 

 13,500. 



Shell globose, compressed beneath, thickish, almost opaque, 

 rather glossy, very variable in colour which ranges from brown 

 to pink and yellow of different depths of shade, occasionally 

 white, with from one to four or five bands which also vary both 

 in breadth and colour, their prevailing tint, however, being brown, 

 sometimes they are altogether wanting ; irregularly and closely 

 striate in the line of growth, as well as more faintly so spirally ; 

 epidermis thinnish ; ivhorls 5-55, rounded; spire short, apex 

 obtuse ; suture shallow ; mouth obliquely semilunar ; outer lip 

 thick, reflected, of a deep chocolate-brown inside, where it is 

 furnished with a strong rib of the same colour ; inner lip ex- 

 tremely thin, chocolate or reddish-brown ; umbilicus hidden, 

 except in young specimens. 



Inhabits groves and shady places, as well as gar- 

 dens and hedgerows, in all parts of Great Britain. It 

 is more hardy and less timid than most members of 

 the genus, and one of the prettiest and best known of 

 our land shells. It affords a dainty repast to the 

 thrush and blackbird, which are in the habit of 

 breaking the shell by hammering it against an adja- 

 cent rock or stone, around which small heaps of 



* Living in groves. 



