60 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



unless we hear by chance the crunching of their frail 

 shells beneath our soles as we walk. Alas that, glad 

 to exist ourselves, we should thus unwittingly tread 

 out so many small sparks of life ! 



A word here about our common banded snail 

 (Helix nemoralis), which is common everywhere in 

 the furzy places, but is incapable of existence on the 

 close-cropped turf. Every one knows how extremely 

 variable in colour the shell of this snail is; in every 

 garden a pretty collection may be made of shells, 

 red, yellow, cream, and brown of many shades ; shells 

 marked and unmarked, with great variety, too, in 

 their markings. Now most of the shells I see on 

 the downs are of one type ; indeed, you may in 

 some parts search the furzy spots for miles without 

 getting a snail of any other type. The ground colour 

 is yellow, or yellowish white, with broad black longi- 

 tudinal bands. Not only is it a most conspicuous 

 coloration, but seen casually down among the vivid 

 green of the furze and herbage it often startles a person 

 by its curiously close resemblance to a small portion of 

 a highly-coloured adder's coil. This chance resemblance 

 to a dangerous creature does not, however, serve the 

 snail as a protection from his principal enemies, the 

 thrushes. Wherever there is a patch of furze there 

 you will find the " thrushes' anvil/' usually a flint half 

 or nearly quite buried in the soil a few feet away from 

 the bushes, and all round the anvil the turf is strewn 

 with shattered shells. 



