38 TENACITY OF LIFE 



Mr. Baird noticed a recently formed epiphragm over the mouth 

 of one of these snails. On removing the snails from the tablet 

 and placing them in tepid water, one of them came out of its 

 shell, and the next day ate some cabbage leaf. A month or two 

 afterwards it began repairing the lip of its shell, which was broken 

 when it was first affixed to the tablet. 



While resident in Porto Santo, from 27th April to -itli May 



1848, Mr. S. P. Woodward^ collected a number of Helices and 

 sorted them out into separate pill-boxes. On returning home, 

 these boxes were placed in empty drawers in an insect cabinet, 

 and on 19th October 1850, nearly two and a half years after- 

 wards, many of them were found to be still alive. A whole bagful 

 of H. turricula, collected on the Ilheo de Cima on 24th April 



1849, were all alive at the above-mentioned date. 



In September 1858 Mr. Bryce Wright sent - to the British 

 Museum two specimens of H. desertorum which had been dormant 

 for four years. They were originally collected in Egypt by a Mr. 

 Yernedi, who, in May 1854, while stopping at one of the stations 

 in the desert, found a heap of thorn-bushes lying in a corner of 

 the building, rather thickly studded with the snails. He picked 

 off fifteen or twenty specimens, which he carried home and locked 

 up in a drawer, where they remained undisturbed until he gave 

 two to Mr. Wright in September 1858. 



In June 1855 Dr. Woodward placed specimens of ^ candidis- 

 sima and II. aperta in a glass box, to test their tenacity of life ; 

 he writes of their being still alive in April 1859. 



Mr. R E. C. Stearns records ^ a case of Bidiminus pallidior and 

 H. Veatch'ii from Cerros I. living without food from 1859 to March 

 1865. 



H. Aucapitaine mentions * a case of H. lactect found in calcin- 

 ated ground in a part of the Sahara heated to 122° F., where 

 no rain was said to have fallen for five years. The specimen 

 revived after being enclosed in a bottle for three and a half years. 



In August 1863, Mr. W. J. SterkuKp put specimens of H. 

 nemoralis in a box and afterwards placed the box in his cabinet ; 

 in November 1866 one specimen was discovered to be alive. 



Gaskoin relates*^ a case in which specimens of H. lactea were 



1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) vi. p. 489. - Ibid. (3) iii. p. -148. 



=* Amer. Nat. xi. (1877) p. 100 ; Proc. Calif. Ac. iii. p. 329. 



^ Gaz. Med. Alger. 1865, Stli Jan. p. 9. ^ Science Gossip, 1867, p. 40. 



e Ami. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) ix. p. 498. 



