10 HORSLEY : HELIX NEMORALIS AND HELIX HORTENSIS. 



To display my collection of the varieties and variations of 

 nemoralis and hortensis is rdways to excite astonishment, and 

 frequently to incite people to do and to possess likewise. A few 

 notes, therefore, on these allied shells may be of interest to 

 those who have not directed any special attention to their 

 peculiarities. 



First, let me utter a British growl, a grammarian's grumble, 

 anent the absurdit}' or the misleading character of some of the 

 scientific names we must encounter. Helix nemoralis, the snail of 

 the groves, need never be pursued in the grove when there is a 

 hedge handy, and especially is it abundant on sand-hills by the 

 sea, which are about as diverse from groves as anything can be. 

 When the broken shells of nemoralis are found in a wood, it may 

 generally be discovered that they have been brought in from 

 outside by some thrush, and that few living specimens can be 

 found in the wood itself, except where they have entered beech 

 woods for the purpose, so dear to them at certain times of the 

 year, of ascending the smooth boles of the beech. Such nemora 

 nemoralis are, according to my observation, usually of the nature 

 of copses or plantations, and the deeper the wood the less the 

 chance of finding nemoralis therein. Nor is the accuracy of the 

 term Helix hortensis, the garden snail, much greater. I can only 

 recall one garden, at Trentham, in which I have found it 

 abundantly. 



The hedge-row snail would be a better name, and 

 H. aspersa might by the general acclamation and execration of all 

 gardeners become the real hortensis. Nor are one's growls hushed 

 when some of the varietal names are noted. Who was the 

 maniac who called first the yellow bandless variety of nemoralis, 

 libcllnla ? The word is as unknown to classical Latin, as classical 

 Latin is usually unknown to those w^ho libel and ill-treat speci- 

 mens by the so-called scientific names they give them. There is, 

 indeed, lihella, which means an as, two-thirds of the truth con- 

 cerning the sponsor of the shell. In the Latin of Natural 

 History, however, Lihclhila means but a dragon fly. Were the 

 dragon-flies which the author of the name had seen, uniformly 

 bright yellow ? Or did he find in their strongly reticulated wings, 

 their enormous eyes, their powerful flight, and their carnivorous 

 habits, the points of similarity to the shell which caused him to 

 make the names identical ? Then the red unicolourous and 

 unhanded variety is called rnhclla. This in somewhat late Latin 

 means reddish, but why is rubra not used ? Its hue is definite 



