TESTACELLA. 147 



of the shell, are exceedingly variable characters in this 

 genus. 



It is the Testacella Europcsa of De Roissy, who pro- 

 posed a change of name in consequence of Lamarck 

 having, a few months previous to the publication of the 

 ^ Histoire ^ of Draparnaud, described what was then sup- 

 posed to be the same species under the somewhat similar 

 name of Haliotoides ; but it now appears that Lamarck^s 

 species is the one which I am next about to notice. 



The T. Maugei of Ferussac was observed by the late 

 Mr. J. S. Miller, the Curator of the Philosophical Insti- 

 tution of Bristol, between forty and fifty years ago, in 

 the nursery- gardens of Messrs. Miller and Sweet, near 

 that city, where it is still to be found in considerable 

 numbers. It has been since, to a certain extent, natu- 

 ralized or acclimatized in this country, having been ob- 

 served in other parts of Somersetshire, as well as at Ply- 

 mouth and Cork. I may add to this list of localities my 

 own garden at Norton near Swansea, which was occa- 

 sionally supplied with plants from Miller and Sweet's 

 nurseries. It was originally (in 1801) noticed as a native 

 of TenerifFe; and it appears to be also indigenous to 

 Madeira, the Canary Isles, Portugal, and the South-west 

 of France. A variety of it (called T, Deshayesii or 

 Altcs-ripce) occurs in a fossil state at Haute- Rive in 

 France. This species has a smaller head, as well as a 

 much larger and more convex (almost semicylindrical) 

 shell, than T. Haliotidea. The present species is more 

 prolific and gregarious than its congeners. Mr. Norman 

 has kept specimens of T, Maugei, as well as of T. Halio- 

 tidea and its variety scutulum, alive for some time, and 

 has carefully watched their habits in a state of confine- 

 ment. He says that the nest of earth which T, Maugei 

 makes for itself in times of drought reminded him not a 



