2 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



lip of a rich, dark chocolate -brown ; in variety hortensis 

 mouth has a white lip. Colours various ; yellow, yellow 

 with brown bands, pink, pink and brown, dark choco- 

 late, with darker bands of the same colour, and white. 



Helix pisana, Linnseus. The Banded Snail. — Shell 

 rather depressed and nearly globular, of a pale yellow- 

 ish-white, with spiral bands of a dark chocolate-brown, 

 which are not always joined together, giving the shell a 

 speckled or streaky appearance; whorls 5 or 5^ ; mouth 

 pink, and rather large. Varieties nearly white, and also 

 others with the bands of a chestnut-colour, and scarcely 

 to be distinguished. 



Helix pomatia is the largest of our land snails, being 

 about 1| inches in breadth and length, and is found in 

 Kent, Surrey, Gloucestershire, and other southern coun- 

 ties ; and a specimen was met with some time since in a 

 lane near Exmouth, which I believe to be a new locality for 

 it. Some curious reversed specimens are occasionally found 

 in France, and one variety particularly struck me, which 

 was exhibited in the Museum at the Jardin des Plantes, 

 in Paris. It was something the shape of a Buccinum, 

 the whorls rounded and swollen, and six in number. A 

 beautiful white variety is also found, but rarely, in the 

 environs of Clermont. It is supposed by some to have 

 been originally introduced into England by Sir Kenelm 

 Digby, as food or medicine for his wife, who was suf- 

 fering from consumption ; others say that the Romans 

 introduced it ; but Mr. Jeffreys believes it to be indi- 

 genous, and observes (iu his 'British Conchology ') 

 "that it is not found in many parts of England and 

 Wales where the Romans built cities or had important 

 military stations." 



Archaeologists often find snail-shells in great abun- 



