66 Quarterly Journal of Concliotogy. 



are agreed. But I must not let myself be led into a dissertation 

 on the wonderful theme of "species v. varieties," much though 

 I feel inclined. Any one who wants something upon which to 

 exercise his intellectual faculties will find pleftity of scope for it, 

 if he goes carefully through Mr. Jeffreys' valuable work. But to 

 return, soon after this discovery Ave left the road, and passing 

 through some fields, we arrived at the woods which were to occupy 

 us for the remainder of the day. 



These woods are formed almost entirely of Beech trees, and 

 are on the slope of the Cotswold range of hills. Just before 

 entering them we took Pupa secale in great abundance, and also 

 Helix ericetonmi, the specimens of which had a remarkably deep 

 tint. It was near this spot that we first met with the beautifully- 

 sculptured shell, Cyclostoma elegans. The Helix virgata which 

 are collected on the top of the hill above the woods are much 

 smaller, but niore deeply colored than those we had taken below. 

 We now entered the wood, and soon found ourselves quite over- 

 whelmed by the quantities of the molluscs. 



From the trunks of the trees, and extending up a considerable 

 height on them, we took Buliinus inontanus in some abundance, 

 in company with Bulimus obscurus, Clausilia rugosa, and 

 Clausilia laiiiinata together with a few of the variety albida, of the 

 last named species. At the foot of the trees we took Helix 

 lapicida, but rather sparingly in consequence of the dryness of the 

 season; also Helix ru-fescens, Avhich was very abundant and of 

 large size. Proceeding onward into the heart of the wood under 

 the guidance of Nelson, we came to a dell, the ground in which 

 was thickly covered with decaying leaves. Here we found the 

 prize of the day, Clausilia Rolphii. Although very abundant in 

 this spot they seemed to be confined almost entirely to ic, and we 

 only succeeded in obtaining a solitary individual here and there in 

 other parts of the wood. Many of them were much eroded, and 

 had more the appearance of "dead shells." In the dell we also 

 looV d. {q\v Helix aculeata ; \s\(\Q}ci Mr. Jeffreys describes as being 

 an ex(}uisitely beautiful object, especially when it is fresh and 

 encircled with its coronet of spines" (p. 176). Our next capture 

 was Helix po/ii itia, the edible snail, the presence of which in this 

 country has given rise to much diversity of opinion. The speci- 

 mens were not particularly fine. (The finest in my possession 

 are from Croydon). This snail is becoming scarce at Cooper's 

 Hill, owing I am told to the gipsies, who have long been aware of 

 its gastronomic qualities. Gloucestershire is, I believe, the most 

 Northern locality yet recorded for this shell. Percival was here 

 so fortunate as to find the somewhat locviivvixxtty exalbida of Helix 

 aspersa. 



On the moss-covered walls which surround the wood we found 

 the pretty little species Helix rupestris and also Balia perversa^ 



