30 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE L. AND F. MOLLUSCA OF SUSSEX. 



disbelieve in their supposed power of elongating themselves so as to 

 assume the appearance of a worm. They flatten themselves out 

 very much, and are thus enabled to creep into very narrow fissures 

 in rocks, but they will not escape through a perfectly round hole in 

 a tin box, even if it should be almost a quarter of an inch wide." 

 Speaking of Amalia sowerbyi, Fer., Dr. Scharff says he has 

 *' frequently found it buried several inches beneath the surface, 

 destroying bulbs and living on vegetable matter — in fact, it is a 

 most typical burrowing slug in this country " (Ireland). 



Last autumn I found numerous cases where fairly large specimens 

 of H. aspersa, Mull., had burrowed to depths of from five to six 

 inches. Mr. George Paul, F.R.M.S., informed me some little time 

 ago that he frequently found Agr. agrestis, L., at depths varying 

 from six to eight inches. H. rufescens, Penn., and H. hispida, L., 

 are very plentiful on the summit of the cliffs along the East Sands 

 near to St. Andrew's. The latter species is the more abundant, and 

 I am inclined to think that what I previously thought were the 

 burrows of earthworms are burrows excavated by the mollusc itself. 

 It is very difficult to say whether or not they have been first formed 

 by earthworms. In one case I dug out three specimens — two 

 immature, the other adult — in a distinct burrow which seemed to 

 terminate at a depth of about seven inches. Clausilia rugosa, Drap., 

 a species I have not yet met with at any depth, except under stones, 

 has been found in Yorkshire by a friend of mine, in damp earth at 

 a depth of five inches. Mr. J. W. Taylor records (Journ. Conch., 

 p. 299, 1S88) the finding of Bulimus montanus, Drap., at a depth of 

 two feet in Somersetshire. I hope next winter to continue these 

 observations, and I trust others interested in the subject will do the 

 same. The oft occurring question, What becomes of the slugs and 

 snails in winter ? has not yet been satisfactorily answered, but 

 I think that careful and continued observation will prove that a 

 very large proportion, if not all, burrow, and in some cases, to 

 considerable depths. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE LAND AND FRESHWATER 

 MOLLUSCA OF SUSSEX. 



1840.— J. E. Gray. — "A Manual of the L. and F. Shells of the 

 British Islands." Ify William Turton ; a new edition by 

 John Edward Gray, 1840. References on pp. 35, 37, 146, 

 147, and 216. 



