a 
222, HELIX POMATIA. 
Variation.—/elix ponutia has been divided into many varieties, but 
there is little doubt that other and undoubtedly distinct species have at times 
been confused with it by various authors, this misapprehension is probably 
the cause of H. pomatia being recorded for Southern Italy and Sicily 
where it is replaced by HZ. lucorum and other species. 
Though Puton especially remarks on the selective action of the glands, 
as shown in its power to secrete as robust a shell when living on granitic 
soils as when inhabiting a limestone district, yet it seems established that 
the shells from granitic formations in Alpine districts, though of normal 
size, are really thinner than those found living on the chalk downs. 
Dr. Kobelt has also recorded the effect of environment on the size and 
pigmentation of the shell, and notes that animals living upon calcareous 
strata secrete larger and more vividly coloured shells than those dwelling 
upon slate or on sandy soils, and that in the deciduous forests of the 
Scheerwalde and Falkenstein large darkly pigmented shells are found 
with beautiful red lips, while in the orchards of Sachsenhausen the shells 
are mostly brightly coloured and distinctly banded. 
Hartmann has also observed that shells from the plains are usually pale 
in colour and indistinctly banded, while those from the wooded mountain 
slopes are richly coloured and strongly fasciate. 
The usual colouring of the shell is pale fawn, but the epidermis tends to be 
deciduous and readily exfoliates, thus exposing the whitish calcareous base. 
Though H. pomativ is a member of the Pentatzeniate group, the usual 
or characteristic form of the species, according to von Martens, shows only 
four bands arranged as expressed by the formula 0(23)45 which indicates 
a tendency towards the loss of the first band. 
Hf. pomatia may, as to form, be grouped around three chief types : the 
first, when the height and diameter are about equal, which may be regarded 
as the form typical of the species; the second, when the altitude exceeds 
the diameter ; and the third, when the diameter exceeds the altitude. 
VARIATIONS IN FORM OF SHELL. 
Var. gesneri Hartmann, Gaster. Schweiz, 1840, p. 105, pl. 29, f. 2. 
Helix gesnert Hartmann, op. cit. 
Helix pomatia var, elongata Pirona, Moll. Friuli, 1865, p. 11. 
Helix pomatia var. pulskyana Hazay, Mal. Bl., 1881, p. 41, pl. 1, f. 2. 
Helix pyrgia Bourguignat in Locard’s Prodr. Mal. France, 1882, pp. 83 and 305. 
Helix pomatia var. acuminata Baudon, Journ. de Conch., 1884, p. 241. 
Helix pomatia var. plagiostoma Biichner, on //. pomatia, 1899. 
SHELL with more elevated spire and smaller 
mouth than the type form. 
The var. gesneri s.s. is large, conical, and 
thick, pale and unicolorous or darkly banded. 
The sub-var. elongata is of an elongate 
shape, and attains an altitude of 38 mill. and a 
diameter of 28 mill. 
The sub-var. pulskyana is globosely conical 
with raised and pointed spire, 5} slowly enlarg- 
ing whorls, and an abruptly deflected aperture. 
Alt. 45 mill. ; diam. 38 mill. 
The sub-var. acuminata is deseribed as 
elongate and conical in shape. 
The sub-var. pyrgia is described by Margier 
as more elevated and conoid than the type, and 
Gustav Sayn has discriminated a more conical F : F 
and a thick-shelled modification, which he Fic, 299. — Helix pomatia sub-var. 
. ea a pulskyana (after Hazay). sans 
named conica and crassa respectively. 
The sub-var. plagiostoma is smaller than type, light-brown in colour, with narrow 
bands, spire elevated and mouth more oblique due to the deflection of the last whorl. 
