LAND SHELLS : THEIR TENACITY OF LIFE. I05 



leaves, etc., and at the end of the following October it 

 was found to be accompanied by about thirty minute 

 black helices, of the origin of which the observer was 

 at first doubtful, but the markings and form o{ H. lactea 

 soon became distinguishable, and when the account was 

 written, a year later, some of them were nearly as large 

 as the parent, which was still alive in captivity. In 

 Africa, in certain parts of the deserts where there is a 

 constant heat of over 110° Fahr., and where no trace of 

 vegetation can be seen, the ground is sometimes covered 

 with H. lactea so as to seem whitened, and at the end 

 of 1858 Aucapitaine is said to have collected specimens 

 while passing through places, where, it was believed, no 

 rain had fallen for five years ; these were packed away 

 in a box and forgotten until August, 1862, when they 

 were found, and placed in a basin of water to be cleaned, 

 and next morning, to his astonishment, the observer 

 found them, full of life, crawling about on the furniture 

 of his study.^ 



Helix aperta. — Woodward placed a specimen of 

 this species in a glass-box in June, 1855, and it 

 remained quiescent, without food or change of air, 

 until November, 1856, when, on being placed in water, 

 it revived for a few hours, but returned, without 

 taking any food, to its former condition, and so con- 

 tinued until July, 1857, when it was required for 

 dissection. In February, 1885, Mr. Darbishire bought 

 a quantity of snails of this kind in the market at Nice, 



' J. S. Gaskoin, " Proc. Zool. Soc," i85o,pp. 243-4 ; Aucapitaine, 

 as cited by Mr. Darbishire, " Journ. of Conch.," vi. (1889), loi. 



