AURICULIDJE. *221 



and is one of its best conchological characters : the 

 absence is generally caused by the animal absorbing 

 the septa which separate the upper whorls, and thus 

 converting the spire into a single cavity, as it enlarges 

 the shell at the edges of the mouth below. In Scara- 

 bus, the septa between the whorls appear to be origin- 

 ally formed imperfect. (See Phil. Trans. 1833.) 



This family contains only three British genera : 



1. Carychium. Shell ovate; mouth oblong, three- 

 toothed; peristome reflexed. (p. 219. f. 1,2.) 



2. Acme. Shell cylindrical ; mouth ovate, simple ; 

 peristome simple, (p. 219. f. 3.) 



3. Conovulus. Shell ovate; mouth linear, pillar 

 with two or three plaits, (p. 219. 4, 5.) 



1. CARYCHIUM Mutter. (Carychium.) 



Shell spiral, thin, conic-ovate ; mouth oblong, longi- 

 tudinal, two or three- toothed, compressed, rather 

 oblique, rounder at each end ; peristome inter- 

 rupted, thickened, and rather reflexed. p. 219. f. 2. 



83. 1. CARYCHIUM minimum. Minute Sedge Shell. 

 Turbo Carychium. Mont. p. 339. t. 22. f. 2. ; 



Linn. Trans, viii. 184. 

 Auricella Carychium. Hartmann, 49. 

 Auricula minima. Drap. p. 57. t. 3. f. 18, 19. 

 Carychium minimum. Leach, Moll. 133. ; Milller, 



Verm. ii. 125. ; Jeffreys, L. T. xvi. 365. 

 Odostomia Carychium. Flem. Ed. Ency. 



At the roots of grass and moss in moist places. 

 The animal is yellowish white, with only two short 

 L 3 



