120 XEROPHILA ITALA. 
Mr. Rh. A. Phillips has remarked upon the absence of .Y. ztala from the 
sandhills at Rush, near Dublin, where Helia pisana is found, though 
abundant on neighbouring sandhills where //. pisand 1s not present. 
In Ireland and elsewhere it has been frequently observed in association 
with A. virgata, but in Northern France its companion on the dunes is 
said to be Helix nemoralis, and never H. virgutu, which more frequently 
consorts with /7. hortensis. 
The shell is usually carried horizontally, but sometimes is borue at an 
angle of 45 degrees, while at the moment the shell is jerked forward in 
crawling it may be elevated to an angle of 80 degrees, or even more, as 
the shell is momentarily nearly vertically poised. 
It affects exposed places, and is known to ascend beyond 5,500 feet, at 
which altitude it was found by Dr. Scharff, near Miirren, Canton Berne : 
in the Pyrénées it is recorded by Dr. Fischer as dwelling in the zone of 
Helix nemoralis at altitudes between 5,000 and 6,600 feet, but in the Alps 
it usually lives in altitudes ranging between 4,000 and 5,000 feet or 
slightly above the zone of cultivation. In the British Isles we have no 
records for altitudes exceeding the 1,000 feet, at which height it is 
recorded for Staffordshire. 
Food.—''he food of this species has not been systematically observed 
or recorded, but the late Mr. Baillie, of Brora, found that at the Kyle of 
‘Tongue, Sutherlandshire, the Lotus was their favourite food ; but during 
showery weather, in July, 1883, he observed hundreds of them busily 
feeding on the decaying seaweed a little above high-water mark. 
Mr. R. Standen, at Whitepark Bay, Ireland, where it is exceedingly 
abundant, found it in myriads after a damp night feeding on rabbit- 
droppings with which the scanty herbage of the sandhills is strewed. 
On the continent, Dr. Hartmann records it as living amongst the Wild 
Thyme (Thymus serpyllum). 
Hibernation and A®stivation.—In the continued dry weather of 
the summer months, the adults are stated to bury themselves in the earth, 
but the immature shells may often be found adherent to the vegetation, 
more especially to the long stems of the Couch Grass (Triticum repens). 
‘he summer epiphragm is very thin and more or less creased, transparent, 
iridescent, and glistening, with a large oval cretaceous spot above the 
respiratory orifice, but specimens collected by Dr. W. E. Clarke in May, 
1889, at Tarascon, Bouches-du-Rhone, all formed a thick opaque-white 
epiphragm. 
According to most observers, it usually retires for hibernation in this 
country about November, varying according to the season, hiding at the 
roots of grass and other vegetation or becoming ensconced in some suitable 
crevice or shelter, but this action is not invariable, as it has been found 
in mid-winter adherent to the stems of thistles and other plants even 
during periods of keen frost. ‘Ihe epiphragm at these times is usually 
though not invariably thick, opaque, and white. 
Parasites and Enemies.—Like other species it is used as food by 
many birds, mammals, ete. ‘he whimbrel (Vumenius phwopus), the rock 
dove (Columba livia), the cream coloured courser (Cursorius europeus), 
and thrushes (7'urdide) eat this species, according to Yarrell and other 
authors : while field mice feed upon them, according to the observations 
of Mr. C. E. Wright. 
