EYRE : ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF VARIETIES. 7 



The typical form of this species is prettily ornamented with 

 brown zigzag lines and blotches of the same colour. On the 

 contrary, the variety in question is uniformly dirty whitish beneath 

 the epidermis, and entirely devoid of markings. The few specimens 

 I have examined are evidently rather young shells, as they are 

 comparatively thin, and hence it is that they have retained the 

 epidermis, which in more adult thickened shells appears invariably 

 to wear off to a sreat extent. 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF VARIETIES. 



By Rev. WILLIAM L. W. EYRE. 



Alresford, Hants. 



In a late number of " The British Naturalist," Mr. Gain informs 

 his readers that he is at present breeding Helix nemoralis and 

 H. hortensis, and, so far as his experiments have gone, the parents 

 invariably produce young of the same colour, but of a slighter shade, 

 and of a similar banding. If such facts can be established upon 

 a sufficiently wide basis, it will be of considerable interest, and 

 remarkable indeed, if, as Mr. Gain is disposed to think, that the 

 progeny appear to come as true as the different breeds of domestic 

 poultry. From anatomical differences conchologists have now 

 agreed to separate If. nemoralis and hortensis into two species, 

 each having many varieties and sub-varieties ; but if we are to learn 

 anything of the more permanent forms of each locality, it will be 

 necessary to have clear ideas on the subject of classification. When 

 the Conchological Society's new list is issued, we shall, perhaps, be 

 better able to ascertain, and, therefore, arrange better in our cabinets 

 the many differing forms so often met with in every county. Our 

 ordinary text-books seem to ignore the subject as beneath notice. 

 Having recently asked Mr. Ashford, of Christchurch, to name varieties 

 of hortensis and nemoralis, he has most kindly drawn out schedules of 

 those submitted to him, and it is certainly the easiest to comprehend 

 of any plan that I have yet seen, the basis being ground colour, then 

 lip colour, followed by band formula. We thus get sufficient for our 

 purpose without too much Continental minutia, yet exactness of 

 definition where it seems desirable. Such a schedule, drawn up for 

 the two species, extending over the usual varieties, would be helpful, 

 at least to beginners ; and the more experienced would see their way 

 clearer amid the perplexing intermediates that so often occur in 

 every neighbourhood. 



