138 HELICID^. 



Length scarcely the quarter of an inch. Easily distin- 

 guishable from its small size, and short aperture. 



Animal vai*ying from pale to dusky or quite black, 

 stout, and rather broad, with pale tentacles, and a short 

 ovate foot. 



This shell appears to have been anciently much more 

 abundant in England than it now is, since we find it 

 contained in considerable numbers in superficial deposits 

 around London, and in the eastern counties. It is rare 

 now, and very local. Mr. Jeffreys discovered it near 

 Swansea. In Scotland it has been found near Glasgow 

 by Mr. Kenyon. In Ireland it has occurred in the south, 

 near Baltimore, to Mr. M'Andrew, who found it along 

 with Balaa fragilis under the stones of a dry wall, and 

 near Cork to Mr. S. Wright, jun., and Mr. Isaac Carroll. 



It lives in sandy places, as among dunes by the sea- 

 side, as well as inland. We have found it plentiful be- 

 neath the bark of willows on sandy ground near the sea at 

 Elsinore in Denmark (E. F.). M. Bouchard-Chantereaux, 

 who supposed it to be distinct from the ollonga of Dra- 

 parnaud, observes, that near Boulogne it inhabits the dunes, 

 constantly covering its shell with a viscous secretion, and, 

 in winter, buries itself in the sand. 



