160 HELICID.E. 



Yar. 2. alhida. Shell white or colourless. 



Var. 3. compacta. Shell not so white underneath : whorls 

 more convex and compact, the last not being so much dilated : 

 spire more prominent. 



Habitat : Cellars, vaults, drains and sculleries, under 

 stones, loose bricks, tiles and logs of wood about houses, 

 as well as under stones and fallen trees which have lain 

 long on the ground in woods, everywhere from Zet- 

 land to Guernsey. The varieties are occasionally found. 

 Var. 3 approaches the next species in form. Z. cellarius 

 occurs in a semifossil state at Copford, Clacton, and 

 Maidstone. Its foreign distribution extends from Fin- 

 land to Algeria and Sicily ; and Mr. Lowe has recorded 

 it from Madeira and the Canaries. Gould has described 

 it as a North- American species, and says it is the Helix 

 glaphyra of Say ; but he adds that it was probably im- 

 ported from Europe about water-casks or greenhouse 

 plants. 



Miiller has noticed the shy habits of this snail, and 

 says that, when crawling, it alternately withdraws one 

 of its horns half-way, although there is no obstacle in 

 front of it, and immediately puts it out again. Mr. 

 Sheppard remarked that it had a very fetid smell, much 

 resembling that of the urine voided by the common 

 snake se defendendo, and by which one might frequently 

 be guided to the spot where it lies concealed. He also 

 noticed that in some instances this odour was not per- 

 ceptible until the snail had been immersed in boiling 

 water. The organ of smell must be very acute in this, 

 as well as all the other species of Zonites, judging from 

 the size of their tentacular bulbs, in which this sense is 

 supposed to be placed. Its slime is watery and abun- 

 dant. The dark band which often encircles the suture 

 in dead shells is owing to the dried remains of part of 



