On the Mollnsca of the Club District, 149 



glare of the sun, and so hot I could scarcely bear my hand upon 

 it. H. caperata also chooses dry places, and courts the heat like 

 the last species. The beautiful var. ornata lives on the almost 

 bare chalk heaps over Merstham tunnel. The three last- 

 named shells (which all select the dryest localities) as well 

 as H. Caiitiana and H . rufescens to a lesser degree, will, when 

 roughly handled, void a considerable quantity of a clear 

 tasteless fluid like water, amounting in a full grown virgata to 

 more than two drops. H. Arbustoruni is uncommon. 

 J have seen it in the riverside meadows at Putney, the low- 

 lying land south of Godstone, and near Godalming. Mr. Low 

 Sarjeant sent me some fine specimens yesterday, from 

 Waddon, where he says it is tolerably abundant. H. rufescens 

 is by far the commonest snail we have. It inhabits all parts 

 of the county, although showing a decided preference for the 

 chalk. H. pygincea, difficult to find on account of its micro- 

 scopic dimensions, is best obtained by searching during dry or 

 cold weather, under fragments of chalk or stones lying among 

 the grass on the southern slopes of the Downs. The beautiful 

 H. cartusiana has been found on several occasions on Banstead 

 Downs, but I have not yet been so fortunate as to obtain it. 

 An interesting feature of the Helices is the curious spiculum 

 with which several species are furnished during the breeding 

 season. I do not know whether any snail produces more than 

 one spiculum in the course of a season, but it seems probable. 

 Out of three aspersa and three nemoralis dissected 17th June 

 last year, two of the aspersa and all three nemoralis contained 

 spiculse. The spring of last year was certainly a late one, yet 

 I found a fully formed spiculum in aspersa on 14th April. 



The Pupce and Vertigos do not seem to inhabit this district 

 in great variety. P. umhilicata under rotting wood about 

 Gatton and White Hill, P. marginata and its var. edentula 

 under tiles, old bricks, &c., on Epsom Downs and Walton 

 Heath. Vertigo pygmcea is common in woods, V. antivertigo 

 inhabits the margin of the Basingstoke Canal, near Brentwood. 

 Balia perversa secretes itself among interstices of the bark of 

 elms about Coombe Lane, but is somewhat dif^cult to find. 

 Clausilia biplicata, which is about the rarest British land shell, 

 only occurs, so far as is known, in Wiltshire and on the banks 

 of the Thames at Hammersmith and Putney, at which latter 

 place I have taken it. Cochlicopa lubrica flourishes equally well 

 in dry or wet places ; it may be found in the arches of the 

 Brighton railway, between this and Stoat's Nest, and I have 

 taken it in the Hammer pond, at Merstham. C. tridens is a 

 scarce shell throughout England, but where one is found a few 

 minutes' search will generally reveal others, for it lives in little 

 families of five or six, which keep pretty close together. They get 



