XEROPHILA ITALA. 115 
posed synonyms are supported by any information as to the internal 
structure of the doubtful forms, so that implicit confidence cannot be 
placed in the accuracy of such references, although the light recently 
thrown on the relationship of various forms by the more rigidly precise 
investigations of modern scientists, lead us to doubt the strict identity 
with the present species of VY. instubtlis, XV. obvia, X. candicans, ete. 
The Helix ericetorum Nilsson is not our XX, itala, but according to Dr. 
Gawyn Jeffreys is a very strongly striate shell, allied to our VY. cuperata ; 
while Prof. von Martens has affirmed that the Swedish shells are identical 
with VY. striata Schmidt. A specimen named Helix nilssoniana Beck, 
from Wurzburg, Bavaria, exhibited in November, 1912, at a meeting of 
the Leeds Conchological Club, on behalf of Mr. J. H. Ponsonby-Fane, was 
judged by its shell, a very finely but distinctly and regularly striate form 
of \. virgata or a closely-allied species. 
The Helix ericetorum Drap. is likewise, judging by the figures, not refer- 
able to the present species, but appear to represent .V. neglecta, while the 
figure of his Helia cespitum var. [2 has been considered to be a character- 
istic representation of .V. 7talw. ‘his confusion as suggested by M. Picard, 
is probably due to errors of the engraver. 
Hlelix obvia, Helix instabilis, and H. candicans of Ziegler, and other 
forms have been described as synonymous with V. éa/a, but sufficient 
differences have been demonstrated in several of these cases to sustain 
their specific claims. //. candicans, according to Herr Hesse, is very dis- 
tinct in structure, and this divergence is especially shown in the love-dart. 
H. obvia is described as more narrowly umbilicated, and as possessing two 
long straight darts; while /7. instabilis is made the type of a new sub- 
genus by Dr. Westerlund on account of the fine spiral strive and rows of 
punctiform impressions on the shell. 
Mr. Step (‘Shell Life,” p. 359) expresses his belief in the great proba- 
bility of this and other unlikely species being evolved from V. virgata. 
Diagnosis.— Yerophilu itala is well distinguished from the allied 
species in this country by its subdiscoidal shell, wide umbilicus, and 
tubular whorls. 
INTERNALLY, it stands absolutely alone amongst our teliferous British 
species in possessing paired darts or gypsobela within what is now a 
practically simple though distally bifid stylophore or dart-sac. 
Description of Animal.—Scarborough specimens collected by Mr.J. A. Hargreaves 
in September, 1917, had long, slender, and almost colourless BODIES, but of a 
slightly darker greyish tint anteriorly ; the whole upper surface was tuberculate, 
with only slightly perceptible DORSAL GROOVES, which enclosed a longitudinal 
row of elongate TUBERCLES, but no trace of facial or lateral grooves were detected ; 
the MANTLE was colourless, with numerous whitish specks ; and the RESPIRATORY 
ORIFICE was margined above, and on the right side, with white; the FOOT-SOLE 
was of a pale and uniform yellowish tint, with no perceptible trifasciation, but 
showing a narrow though indistinct FOOT-FRINGE, which was faintly lineolate; the 
OMMATOPHORES were slender and elongate, showing through their outer covering 
the pale grey RETRACTORS; the EYE SPECKS black and dorsally placed on the 
elongately bulbous extremities; the lower TENTACLES were slender and semi- 
transparent and the retractors only slightly pigmented. 
Though the aspect of the animal may usually be as above described, yet the 
mantle in the albine forms is frequently of a dark leaden hue, of which shade the 
animal generally partakes, and intermediate forms connecting these extremes may 
also be found. 
The presence of manganese in the tissues of mollusks is now being investigated 
by Prof. Boyeott, who finds that the average quantity of this substance in the 
tissues of 1. itala to be 0:0007 per cent. of the total weight of the animal, 
