XEROPHILA VIRGATA. 149 
varying from 1 mill. to 14 mill. in diameter. They are deposited just 
beneath the surface of the soil in a trough excavated by the muzzle of the 
animal ; they hatch in 15-20 days after deposition, the shells when 
hatched and for some two or three months afterwards are horn coloured. 
According to Gassies observations in the south of France, they become full 
grown at the end of the following year, but Bouchard-Chantereaux says 
that in the north of France they attain their full size during the second 
year, though reproducing their species towards the end of the first. 
In their early and adolescent stages they differ from the adult in show- 
ing a distinct peripheral keel, which usually becomes obsolete before full 
growth is attained. 
M. Gassies records the voluntary nuptials of Helix pisana and Xerophila 
variabilis during a period when the air was charged with electricity, the 
resultant progeny of the H. pisuna being completely albine, while those of 
X. variabilis had deeply coloured shells, though the parent was of the 
usual fasciate variety. 
Food.—In captivity Dr. Gain found this species to be more fastidious 
in its choice of foods than many others, as out of 98 different foods offered 
58 were absolutely refused, while six others were only nibbled after two or 
three days starvation. Only four kinds of food—swede, radish-root, Walva 
sylvestris, and Boletus edulis—were greedily devoured, though ten others 
_ were freely eaten, and nineteen less freely. 
In a state of nature it has been observed in this country to frequent or 
feed upon the ragwort (Senecio jacobea L.), black knapweed (Centaurea 
nigra L.), yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.), sea thrift (Statice maritima 
Miil.), thistles (Carduus L.), hemlock (Conium maculatum L.), alexanders, 
etc. ; while about Lyons, France, it has been noted by Dr. Riel as especially 
attached to Arctium lappa and Onopordum acanthium L. 
Mr. Hargreaves has especially remarked on its noticeable preference for 
the decaying foliage of yarrow, ragwort, and alexanders (Smyrnium 
olusatrum), and that on the stems of thistles and hemlocks they are 
sometimes clustered as thickly as the Helix pisana at Tenby. 
In Ireland Mr. R. Standen and others observed this species feeding upon 
the rabbit-droppings, which so thickly strew the sandhills, ete. 
A carnivoreus propensity has been recorded by Prof. R. Tate, who 
affirms its habit of feeding upon Coccinelle and other small insects, while 
Mr. 'T. Vernon Wollaston has recorded that the present species in company 
with others were confined in the same receptacle with a number of beetles, 
which were all devoured in a fortnight’s time, though green food was 
available. 
Like the generality of species frequenting dry places, this species can 
endure long abstinence from food. Mr. A. Hartley has kept specimens 
in captivity entirely without food for fourteen months, and even this can 
probably be considerably exceeded. 
Habits and Habitat.—This is an eminently gregarious species, usually 
seen in the daytime adhering in clusters to the stems and leaves of the 
different food plants, and, according to Staff-Surgeon Jones, are capable 
of withstanding a considerable amount of solar heat, far more than even 
Helix pisana ; a continuance of dry hot weather will, however, compel it 
to seek shelter by self-burial at the roots of the plants until the advent of 
rain, when the snails suddenly appear in thousands, and have contributed 
to the belief in “ showers of snails.” 
