HELIX. 195 



the shell : spire short and blunt : suture rather deep : mouth 

 obliquely semilunar, higher than broad, furnished inside vdih. 

 a broad white rib, which is distinctly visible outside and placed 

 at a little distance from the opening : outer lip not very thin, 

 shghtly reflected, especially towards the umbilicus, sharply but 

 not much inflected above : umbilicus narrow, but distinct, ex- 

 posing all the interior of the spire. L. 0-3, B. 0-5. 



Yar. 1. alhida. Shell white or colourless. 



Var. 2. minor. Shell smaller : spire more raised. 



Habitat : Hedges^ gardens, slirubberies and suburban 

 woods, among nettles, under stones and logs of wood, 

 and in strawberry- and violet-beds, in most parts of 

 England from Westmoreland southwards, as well as in 

 South Wales and Ireland. .The two varieties are not 

 uncommon ; and I have a scalariform distortion. It is 

 one of our upper tertiary fossils. This species does not 

 appear to be known in the North of Europe ; but it is 

 common in the North of France and at Heidelberg, and 

 (according to Morelet) it inhabits Algeria. Mr. Lowe 

 has enumerated it as a Madeiran species. If Ferussac 

 is right in referring to it the H. Altenana of Kickx, the 

 present species is a native of other parts of Germany. 



H. rufescens was accurately described by Lister, who 

 said it was a favourite food of thrushes. Little heaps of 

 empty shells, with the spire broken, may often be seen 

 in our gardens ; so that the safety of a strawberry crop 

 may be partly ensured by encouraging these favourite 

 songsters. This little snail never goes out in the daytime, 

 unless after a shower of rain. According to Bouchard- 

 Chanter eaux, it lays from 40 to 50 eggs, between the 

 months of August and October, and the young are 

 excluded at the end of from twenty to twenty-five days. 

 The shells of these young ones, and even of such as have 

 as many as four whorls, are really hispid. This w as first 



k2 



