HELIX. 



HELLEBORUS. 



thh kind of epiphragm was supposed to be confined to Hie Laud 

 Mollwica, but it is now known that the Pond-Snails (Limneus and 

 Planorbis), when left dry by the evaporation of tke water in which 

 they live, have the same power of thickening the edge of the lip, and 

 forming a distinct epiphragm. [HELICIDX.] We shall now subjoin 

 the descriptions of some of the most common British species. 



II. aspersa, the Common Snail. The shell is obliquely subglobose, 

 beneath the epidermis pale fawn-coloured, with four (usually inter- 

 rupted) chocolate-brown bands. This is the commonest and one of 

 the handsomest of British snails. It is found wherever there is 

 vegetation, but is more especially addicted to gardens. This snail is 

 collected and sold in Covent-Garden and other markets as a cure for 

 diseases of the chest. It is prepared by being boiled in milk. Large 

 quantities are collected, and sent every year from this country to the 

 United States of America, where they are said to be regarded as deli- 

 cacies. They are packed in casks, in which way they travel very well, 

 as they fix themselves on one another around the circumference of 

 the cask, leaving a vacant space in the centre. At Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne the glassmen hold a snail feast once a year, when large quantitie.-i 

 of this species of snail are consumed. 



//. I'-jinntia, the Edible Roman Snail, or Large-Shelled Snail The 

 shell in solid globose, coarsely wrinkled lengthways, most minutely 

 striated in a spiral direction ; pale-tawny, with rufous bands. The 

 animal is of a general brownish-gray, speckled with whitish and brown 

 granulations. 



This species in Great Britain is nearly confined to the chalk districts 

 of the south of England. It has been found as far north aa Wiltshire. 

 There is a notion prevalent that it is not an original inhabitant of 

 England, but that it was introduced by the Romans, who were famous 

 for its culture. [EEI.ICID.E.] There is no evidence to prove this, and 

 it is found in Sweden, where the climate is much more rigorous than 

 our own. Ita great necessity is chalk, and where this substance pre- 

 vails it is found. This snail ia eaten in this country. Lister says, 

 " They are boiled in spring-water, and, when seasoned with oil, salt, 

 and pepper, make a dainty dish." Dr. Turton says, " After the animal 

 has been extracted there remains at the bottom 'of the shell a glairy 

 transparent matter, which affords one of the best and most durable 

 cements in nature, resisting every degree of beat and moisture." 



//. Arbuttorum, Shrub-Snail. Shell brown, closely marbled, with 

 small linear paler markings, usually one-banded ; outer lip white and 

 reflected. This snail is very generally distributed in woods and in 

 damp gardens throughout the British Isles. It is remarkable for being 

 found higher up the sides of mountains than any other British species. 

 In the Alps it nearly approaches the snow-line. 



//. Cantiana, the Kentish Snail. Shell depressed, globular, semi- 

 transparent, bald, open ; adult, pallid above, rufous below, and towards 

 the lip, periphery not angulated ; outer lip edged within ; umbilicus 

 moderately large. It is chiefly found in England in localities south 

 of the Thames, where it occurs amongst brambles and by hedges 

 throughout the whole district. It has been taken in the west of 

 KiJirlanH. 



II. ijiirlliwriana, Gibbs'a Snail. Shell rather small, depressed, 

 whitish, bald ; mouth margined within by a milk-white rib; umbilicus 

 minute. This shell is only found on the chalk downs of Kent and 

 Surrey. It was discovered by Mr. Gibbs in 1814. 



II. ncmoralii, the Garden, Girdled, or Brown Snail. The shell is 

 depressed globose, imperforated when adult, with or without coloured 

 bands, not marbled ; outer lip reflected ; pillar lip callous, retiring. 



The species thus characterised embraces the If. hortenni and //. 



In fit other naturalists. Messrs. Forbes and Hanley, in the 



'i Molluscs,' say, " We have followed Pfeiffer, Deshayes, Ac., in 



reuniting hortenni and hykrida to the typical nemoralit, not being 



able to detect any peculiarity in individuals of the dark-mouthed form 



which is not likewise represented in the white-mouthed variety, 



between which extremes the kybrida is the connecting link. 



H. riryata, X'nieil Snail. Shell depressed turbinate, smooth, banded ; 

 bends not linear; upper whorls for the most part with only a single 

 zone above the suture ; mouth usually livid red ; outer lip edged 

 internally. 



This species is found in prodigious numbers in many chalk and 

 limestone district*. It is also found in larger numbers near the sea. 

 On the chalk off the coast of Kent it occurs frequently in great 

 profusion. It is widely diffused and is found in the same localities 

 throughout central and southern Europe. 



//. iricttormii, Heath-Snail. Shell depressed, semi-transparent, not 

 regularly striated, banded with brownish-yellow ; mouth small, 

 lip acute, not edged with colouring matter ; umbilical region 

 capacious. 



This snail prefers calcareous soils, and is often abundant on sandy 

 soils near the sea. It is very widely diffused through the British Isles, 

 i if to the north of Scotland. 



//. hitpida, Dritly-Snail. Shell reddish horn-coloured, more or 

 la* depressed ; outer lip edged below, with white internally ; umbilicus 

 moderately large. 



The B[. , -ii^ //. ilrpUata and //. concimia may be regarded as varieties 

 of this species. It is an abundant species, on waste places, by hedges, 

 and under stones in all parts of the British Isles. 



//. icricea, Silky SnaiL Shell depressed, globular, pallid, transparent, 



closely downy ; spire more or less raised; umbilicus decidedly small. 

 It is widely distributed, and appears to be mr.st abundant in the 

 neighbourhood of wet mossy rocks. " It is more frequent in the west 

 and south than elsewhere." (Forbes and Hanley.) 



//. fusca, Brown Snail. Shell depressed, aubglobular, almost imp^r- 

 forated, not minute, transparent, umber-coloured, wrinkled ; outer lip 

 acute. 



It appears that this delicate and well-marked species is peculiar to 

 the British Islands. It is found in bushy places in many parts of 

 England and Ireland. 



//. pulchella, White Snail. Shell depressed, minute, white ; mouth 



nearly circular, its edge ilatly reflected. The animal is milky white. 



I It is very generally found in Great Britain. It lives under stones, in 



walls, and on the ground often in dampish places. A ribbed variety 



has been described tinder the name of II. costata. 



H. umbilical a, Open Snail. Shell small, dark brown, unpolished, 

 merely wrinkled ; whorls five, of slow increase ; umbilicus large ; 

 mouth small ; outer lip acute. The animal is dusky, nearly black. 

 It is the Zonites umbilicala of Gray. It is abundant in many localities 

 on the faces of rocks and walls, or under stones in dry places. 



//. pygmcea, Pigmy Snail, resembles the last, but smaller, paler, 

 more transparent, more compressed, composed of four turns at most ; 

 the mouth less circular. It is found in wet places, among dead leaves 

 in dttohea, and by springs. It is often overlooked on account of its 

 minuteness. 



For a list of species of Iltlir found in Great Britain see HKLICID.E. 



(Forbes and Hanley, A History of (lie British Molliuca ; Dr. 

 Turton, A Manual of the Land and Fresh-Water Shells, edited by Dr. 

 J. E. Gray.) 



HELLEBORE, BLACK. [HELLEBOROS.] 



HELLEBORE, WHITE. [VERATRUM.] 



HELLEBORUS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Ranunculacete. It has 5 permanent sepals, rounded, blunt, large, often 

 herbaceous ; petals 8 or 10, very short, tubular, nectariferous, narrowed 

 to the base; stamens 30 to 60; stigmas terminal, orbicular; capsules 

 leathery ; seeds arranged in two rows, elliptical, umbilicatei 



H. niger, Christmas Rose, is found in the shady woods of the lower 

 mountains of many parts of Europe. The plant is herbaceous, with 

 a perennial blackish-coloured rhizoma, tuberculated and scaly, from 

 which descend numerous thickish radicles. The leaves are all radical, 

 with long cylindrical and spotted foot stalks, pedately divided, with 

 the lobes from 7 to 9, oblong-lanceolate, sometimes cuneate-obovate, 

 largely serrated towards their apices, and arranged apparently along 

 the forked terminations of the petiole ; they are stiff, almost leathery, 

 of a dirty green colour, smooth above, paler and reticulate beneath. 

 The scape is shorter than the petiole, furnished with two or three oval 

 bracts, often simple and single-flowered, sometimes forked and 2- 

 flowered. The flower is large, terminal, white, with a tinge of pink, 

 the most conspicuous part being the petaloid calyx. Of this the sepals 

 are 5, ovate and permanent; the petals, 8 to 10, are small, greenish- 

 coloured, tubular, tapering towards the base, with the limb tubular, 

 bilabiate, and their outer margins terminated in a tongue-shaped lip ; 

 stamens numerous, longer than the petals ; ovaries 6 to 8 ; stigmas 

 terminal, orbiculate ; capsules follicular, leathery ; seeds many, 

 elliptical, umbilicated 1 , arranged in two rows. It is a narcotic acrid 

 poison, and was long supposed to be the genuine Black Hellebore 

 of the ancients. The fibres of the rhizoma are the parts used 

 officinally. 



//. oriental!* is found in mountainous broken ground in Greece 

 and the Levant. It has a black thick rhizoma, with cylindrical fibres ; 

 the radical leaves are stalked pedate, downy beneath, their segments 

 almost sessile, oblong, acutely serrulate ; stem taller than the leaves, 

 corymbose, 3-5-flowered ; floral leaves subsessile, palmated, the 

 lobes 3 to 5, oblong-acute, serrulate ; calyx purple, with oval very 

 blunt sepals ; capsules 5. The root was formerly much celebrated in 

 mania, epilepsy, and dropsy. It is still used in the Levant, and is 

 called ' Zoptane' by the Turks. It is acrid and violently cathartic. 



//. vtridit is found in the woods and thickets of Europe on a chalky 

 soil. It has a black fleshy rhizoma, with numerous long stout fibres ; 

 the leaves are a bright deep green, quite smooth, pedate, the cauline 

 ones subsessile and palmate; the segments oblong, undivided, entire 

 at the base, somewhat serrated at the apex ; stems often forked, one 

 foot and a half high ; the flowers are few, terminal, and axillary, 

 stalked, mostly solitary, drooping, green in every part ; the sepals are 

 roundish-ovate ; capsules 3 to 4, short and wrinkled. This is said by 

 Stevenson and Churchill to be the best substitute for //. orientalit, 

 though less active. 



//. foetidut is found in thickets and waste ground, chiefly in a 

 chalky soil, in the more western parts of Europe. It has a leafy 

 many-flowered stem ; the leaves are stalked pedate, of a livid green 

 colour, quite smooth, with linear oblong or lanceolate serrated seg- 

 ments, the upper ones gradually losing their blade, and changing into 

 pale lanceolate entire bracts; the flowers are numerous, panicled, and 

 drooping ; petals nearly erect, stained with dull purple about the 

 edges. It ia similar in its effects to H. niyer. The leaves are emetic 

 and purgative. They have been strongly recommended as a vermi- 

 fuge against the large round worm (Aecaris lumbricoiiles). The fresh 

 root of Hellebore applied to the ekin induces inflammation and 



