HELIX. 187 



country. Lister says that thrushes are very fond of 

 them, and_, in order to eat them^ pierce the upper part of 

 the shells Avith their beaks. He also remarks that they are 

 more hardy than other snails and are the first to make 

 their appearance when spring returns. Mr. Whiteaves 

 has observed that they are often destroyed by ants. 

 Miiller relates that he had detected a young lizard, 

 which he had confined together with a live H. nemoralis 

 in a box, entering the shell and eating the snail. They 

 appear to be fond, in their turn, of animal food. Mr. 

 James Sowerby mentioned, in the ^ Zoological Journal/ 

 the case of a pet specimen of this kind of snail which 

 preferred roast mutton to lettuce-leaves. All the snails 

 are omnivorous ; but they seldom have the opportunity 

 of feasting upon cooked meat. 



The variety of colour, as well as the number and 

 arrangement of the bands and markings in this common 

 shell are almost infinite. Albin Gras has enumerated 

 no less than 198 varieties of the typical form alone, and 

 Moquin-Tandon has distinguished 46 more of the form 

 called hortensis. The colour of the animal also varies 

 nearly as much as that of the shell. 



A great controversy has long raged between con- 

 chologists, as to whether the two forms called nemoralis 

 and hortensis are distinct species. Linne united them ; 

 Miiller separated them. In modern times, Forbes and 

 Hanley agree with the former, and Dr. Gray with the 

 latter. Mr. Norman contends stoutly that they are not 

 the same species; and his principal reason is that H. 

 nemoralis invariably, but H. horte^isis never, has a cal- 

 careous, and frequently coloured, deposit on the colu- 

 mella. He has referred, in the ' Zoologist,^ to " a school- 

 boy ^s amusement in Southey^s days,^' in backing his 

 " black-mouths " [nemoralis) against any number of 



