210 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



blunt point; the outer lip white, with dark-brown 

 bands or mottlings, subject to great variety of markings; 

 epidermis yellowish-green, and thick. 



Helix nemqkalis, Linnaeus. Wood Snail.— Shell 

 imperforate, globular, whorls five, more or less covered 

 with minute spiral striae; mouth pyriform; inner margin 

 oflip 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, Linnaeus. The Banded Snail. — Shell 

 rather depressed, and nearly globular, of a pale yel- 

 lowish-white, with spiral bands of a dark chocolate- 

 brown, which are not always joined together, giving the 

 shell a speckled or streaky appearance ; whorls five 

 or five and a half; 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 one and three quarters inches in breadth and 

 length, and is found in Kent, Surrey, Gloucestershire, 

 and other southern counties ; 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 re- 

 versed 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 Buccinnm, 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 origi- 

 nally introduced into England by Sir Kenelm Digby, as 

 food or medicine for his wife, who was suffering from 



