Our British Snails 53 



more slender, with a deeper suture and a narrower 

 mouth. 



Succinea oblonga is local and rare. General^ 

 found near the sea. Much smaller than the 

 other Succineas, and easily mistaken for the 

 young of other species. Colour dull greenish. 



The family Auriculidae is represented in Britain 

 only by CarycJmim minimum; a very small, 

 semi-transparent, white and glossy shell found 

 under mossy stones and other moist places. 

 Common, but sharp eyes are needed to find it. 



We now come to the freshwater shells, which 

 we capture best by means of a perforated scoop, 

 whether they are on the waterweeds or hidden 

 in the sand or mud of the bottom. 



It may be noted that all freshwater shells are 

 greenish-brown which is an excellent protective 

 colouring as rendering them less visible among 

 water weeds to the fish, which devour them 

 greedily. 



The family of Limnaeidae (or lake dwellers) has 

 the sub-families, Planorbis, Physa, Limnaea, and 

 Anc3'lus. In the Planorbinae [i.e. flat-coiled) the 

 onl}'' representative of the genus Segmentina is 

 ScgmenUna nitida, a small, quoit-shaped, keeled, 

 semi-transparent, light brown shell, with internal 

 divisions like those of a nautilus which are visible 

 from the outside of the shell. Local. Found 

 in stagnant or sluggish water. The genus 



