3 52 Shell Life 



stiff hairs of the same tint. The mouth is a bkint 

 triangle, the lip thickened and reddish, with an 

 internal protuberance near the periphery. There is 

 a large umbilicus. This mollusk has only been found 

 in a few places in Hampshire and Sussex, and until 

 seventy years ago none of our naturalists were 

 acquainted with British specimens. For years it 

 was thought that it had been introduced from the 

 Continent, and that individuals planted out at 

 Ditcham and Stoner Hill had established colonies at 

 those places. Later it was found to occur on the 

 northern escarpment of the South Downs in Sussex, 

 and in Kew's Lini^QTsal of Shells (1893) Mr. Clement 

 Keid, F.L.S., has shown that all along that range as 

 far east as the river Arun, wherever there are patches 

 of ancient wood the snail may be found. He says : 

 " The species seems to be very particular as to its 

 habitat, it must have calcareous soil and plenty of 

 shade, but the ground must never be sodden. It 

 seems also to be an exceptionally sedentary species, 

 for as far as I could see it was confined to ancient 

 woods, and was never to be found in plantations, 

 even if the trees were a hundred years old. Almost 

 the only place where the necessary conditions are 

 combined is the chalk escarpment, for there we find 

 slopes too steep ever to have been cultivated, and on 

 these, consequently, are preserved many patches of 

 the ancient forest. Nearly all these scattered patches, 

 as far east as the river Arun, are full of H. ohvohUa. 

 East of the Arun there are few traces of the old 

 forest, and I have not yet come across this snail. . . . 

 Everything seems to show that the creature is a relic 

 of our old woodland fauna, now nearly exterminated 



