HELICID^E. 167 



Montagu observes, it is remarkable that " this shell 

 always affects such lofty places as the tops of houses, 

 without one being found near the base; and in 

 that situation its inhabitant braves equally the scorch- 

 ing beams of the sun in summer and the frigid 

 wind of winter, without attempting to descend." ( T. 

 B. 435.) 



Colonel Montagu's name should be retained for 

 this species, as his work was published in 1803, and 

 Draparnaud's in 1805. The English conchologists, 

 not paying attention to this fact, have very gene- 

 rally committed an injustice to their countryman in 

 favour of a foreigner, in a manner of which few foreign 

 naturalists would be guilty. Indeed, few of them 

 have been willing to do sufficient justice to Montagu's 

 great merit ; for he was almost the first zoologist in 

 modern times who attempted to pay any attention to 

 the animals inhabiting shells; and we should recollect 

 that, during the whole time he was writing, he was shut 

 out by the war from any communication with our 

 continental brethren, and was solely dependent on 

 his own energies. 



47. 3. ZONITES pygmceus. Pygmy Snail, (t. 5. f. 46.) 

 Shell rather convex, pale chocolate-brown, semi- 

 transparent; aperture semilunar; umbilicus large. 



Helix elegans. Sheppard's MSS. Brit. Mus. 



pygmaea. Drap. p. 114. t. 8. f. 8 10. ; Gray, 



Med. Rep. 1821, 239.; Turton, Man. ed. 1. 61. 

 f. 46. ; Nilson, Suec. 32. ; Jeffreys, Linn. Trans. 

 xiii. 343. 



Helix Kirbii. Sheppard, Linn. Trans, xvi. 162.; 

 Jeffreys, Linn. Trans, xiii. 512. 



