219 



Of a number kept in my garden last summer I found tlie eggs of only 

 one, wliich were in a cluster loosely adhering to one another and buried 

 lialf an inch beneath the surface of the mould. They were thirty-eight 

 in number and measured approximately 3 b}' 3o mm. lu twelve days 

 after their discovery (which was made on June 4th) some, and in fifteen 

 days all, had left the egg,^, and had well formed but very thin shells of 

 somewhat less than one and a-half whorls. They had added nearly two 

 whorls by the first week in October when, with their parents, they 

 went into winter quarters, the old shells burying themselves in the 

 mould and the youiig in moss, which had been kept as a preserve for 

 minute s})ecies. 



While neither this nor any other species found in this country 

 serves as an article of human food — though 11. aspersi is said to have 

 been imported into California for that purpose, I know of an instance in 

 which J/, cdholahris was used as a remedy for tubercular consumption, 

 but not with the result desired. 



MesoJon thyroidus, Scuj. — This tine shell does not seem to occur in 

 the immediate \icinity of Ottawa, but forty miles to the south-east, at 

 Casselman, it was found in considerable numbers by Mr. Harrington on 

 the 21st of August last. This is the first record of its occurrence in 

 Central Canada, and I can find ):o evidence of its having been ever 

 taken in Quebec. Near Toronto, Dr. Brodie informs me, it is not un- 

 common. It is a smaller and more elegantly formed shell than M. 

 albolahrls, and differs otherwise in having, like M. sayii, a narrow lip, 

 an open iimbilicus and a tooth on the parietal wall. A variety of M, 

 albolabrh, has also a toothed labium, but it does not occur here, nor 

 even so far as I can learn, in Western Canada, though it might be ex- 

 pected there, as it is found in JNIichigan. M. thijroldes is more elevated 

 than M. sayii, and is larger than any of that species found here, the 

 average gi'eater diameter of the five examples I received from Mr. Har- 

 rington being 23-2 mm. It also differs from that shell in having a nar- 

 rower umbilicus, and in wanting the tooth on the lower margin of the 

 peristome. 



MesoJon sayii, yji/«;<ey.— Although generally considered a rare 

 species, here in certain localities at least, it is not altogether uncommon. 



Unlike Mr. Heron, I have not been successful in tiuding it alive on the 



e 



