CAPTIVE SNAILS. 141 



However, I took away quite a number of dormant 

 specimens of the snail, as well as a good number of 

 the best shells which the jays had dared to desecrate, 

 and after a long summer's sleep I placed some of 

 the former in a fernery, and sprinkled them with 

 water. After a few hours they slowly pushed them- 

 selves out into the open world and became quite lively, 

 for snails, and seemed to enjoy their state of captivity 

 to a very reasonable degree. One of these captives 

 sat for his picture one fine day, and you see the result 

 in the engraving. 



The shell is umbilicated and seven- whorl ed; the 

 spire is low conical, and the outer lip but slightly 

 thickened. The peristome is whitish, but the shell is 

 dark chestnut, with a still darker band, which is 

 edged with equal stripes of light yellow. The animal 

 is slate-colored, and its surface is covered with numer- 

 ous little elevations. The diameter of the shell is 

 three-fourths of an inch, sometimes larger. 



Helix (Ai'ionta) Mormonum, Pfr. , Mor-mo'-num. 



The shell of this species, as shown in Fig. 127, has a 



flattened spire, a recurved lip, 



and a large umbilicus, and is 



marked by a dark band with 



whitish edges. Whorls six — 



flattened ; aperture oblique ; 



Flg- 12? - color from reddish brown to 



almost white. 



This species inhabits the Sierra Nevada mountains, 

 the first specimens having been found on Mormon 

 island, in the American river; hence the name. 

 They do not live in Utah, as one would at first sup- 

 pose. The diameter of the shell is an inch or an 

 inch and a quarter. 



