362 Shell Life 



of virgata, they esteem them as food. It is more 

 likely that tlie dark colour of the shell may be 

 accompanied b}^ a difference in the flavour of the 

 mollusk which renders them less palatable to tlie 

 sheep, which have learned to avoid them by means 

 of the colour. 



The Pointed Snail {H. acid a), owing to the great 

 height of the spire, resembles a BulimuK Jeftreys, 

 following Forbes and Hanley, actually included it in 

 that genus ; but by general agreement it has since 

 been restored to the position originally assigned to 

 it by Mliller. As will be seen from the figure, its 

 shell is a cylindrical cone a little more than half an 

 inch high, of an impure white colour, streaked 

 across the whorls with ])rown, and one or two 

 spiral bands of dark brown or black — fre- 

 quently reduced to one, which is restricted to 

 the body-whorl, and sometimes entirely want- 

 ing. The spire tapers regularly, but ends in 

 a blunt tip. The oval mouth has a thin lip, 

 and tlie narrow umbilicus is almost covered. It 

 inhabits sandhills and grassy downs close to the sea, 

 chiefly in the south and west of England ; Wales ; 

 islands oflf the west coast of Scotland, and along the 

 Irish coast. It is exceedingly abundant, and shares 

 the double distinction with virgata of being a "sheep 

 snail " and being reputed to fall in showers from the 

 clouds. Sheep are exceedingly fond of it, and I have 

 often seen them feeding on dangerous loose edges of 

 cliflfe though precisely the same grasses grew on firm 

 ground above, but in the former position this sheep- 

 snail was abundant, and therefore the feed was more 

 desirable. When the air is dry the snail glues the 



