1 6 Our British Snails 



from the other, so that they become a court of 

 final appeal if from outward appearance it is 

 difficult to distinguish, say, a white-mouthed 

 nemoralis from a dark-mouthed hortensis. 



Whenever you see a stone, a brick, a branch 

 of dead wood, or even an old boot or a piece 

 of newspaper in the hedge or on the grass, turn 

 it over, for many of the smaller shells are thus 

 found, and " leave no stone unturned " is emi- 

 nently a motto for the conchologist. Some of 

 the shells will be tiny, and must be studied under 

 a magnifying glass — which all naturalists should 

 always have in their pockets — or even under 

 a miscroscope at home, in order to discover, not 

 only their beauty of marking or sculpture, but 

 even to what species they belong. 



When you see a man sweeping herbage with 

 a net, or beating hedges and shrubs over an 

 inverted umbrella, he is probably an entomolo- 

 gist in search of caterpillars or beetles ; but the 

 same methods will often reward the snail-hunter. 



Especially in the hedges will you find the two 

 allied species Helix [Cepea) nemoralis and hortensis, 

 to which the attention of beginners should hrst 

 be directed, inasmuch as they are so common, so 

 beautiful, and so varying both in colour and the 

 number of the chocolate bands they usually bear. 

 See the illustration of some of these at rest on 

 hawthorn, p. 17. Canary-yellow, flesh-colour, 

 chocolate, and almost white, are the prevailing 



