42 DEPOSITION OF EGGS cHAr. 



Mr. Layard promptly had a trencli sunk across what was said to 

 be the old course, and the discovery of numerous living Aiiqnd- 

 laria, biu-ied in the mud, confirmed the story of one of the 

 litigants and confounded the other.^ 



Depositing and Hatching of Eggs : Self-fertilisation. — 

 There appears to be no doubt that Helices, wdien once im- 

 pregnated, can lay successive batches of eggs, and possibly can 

 continue laying for several years, without a further act of union. 

 A specimen of Helix aspersa was noticed in company with 

 another on 5th August; on 9th August it laid eggs in the soil, 

 and early in the following summer it laid a second batch of eggs, 

 although its companion had been removed directly after its first 

 introduction. An Avion received from a distance laid 30 egors 

 on 5th September, and 70 more on the 23rd of the same month, 

 although quite isolated during the whole time." By far the 

 most remarkable case of the kind is related by Gaskoin." A 

 specimen of Helix lactea was kept in a drawer for about 

 two years, and then in another drawer for aljout two years 

 more. It was then taken out, and placed in water, when it 

 revived, and was placed alone under a bell jar with earth 

 and food. Six months after, about 30 young H. lactea were 

 found crawling on the glass, the act of oviposition not having 

 been observed. 



The observations of Mr. V. AV. Wotton,"* with regard to the 

 fertilisation and egg - laying of Avion atev, are of extreme 

 interest and value. A pair of this species, kept in captivity, 

 united on 10th September 1889, the act lasting about 25 

 minutes. From that date until the eggs were laid, the animals 

 looked sickly, dull of colour, with a somewhat dry skin. Eggs 

 were deposited in batches, one, which we will call A, beginning 

 three days before B. On 10th October A laid 80 eggs; on the 

 16th, 110; on the 25th, 77; on 8th November, 82; and on 

 17th November, 47 ; making a total of 396. Specimen B, which 

 began on 13 th October, three days after A, made up for the delay 

 by laying 246 eggs in 40 hom^s ; on 26th October it laid 9, on 

 10th November, 121; and on 30th November, 1 1 ; a total of 477. 



^ See Tennent'.s Ceylon, i. p. 221, ed. 5. 



* W. A. Gain, Naturalist, 1889, p. 55 ; Brockmeier, Nachr. Deutsch. Maluk. 

 Gcsell. XX. p. 113. 



3 Ann. Mag. Xaf. Hist. (2) ix. p. 498. ■* Journ. Conch, vii. 1893, p. 158 f. 



