235 



2. Monstrosity, spire reversed. 



Limnea lineata. Bean, I.e. 



Inhab. ponds and ditches. 



Animal olive, yellow spotted. (Sturm, t. 39.) 



Shell varying much in size, of a greyish 

 or yellowish colour, more or less con- 

 centrically striated ; spire moderately 

 elongated, about a third part the length 

 of the whole shell, with the lesser volu- 

 tions not so abruptly disproportionate to 

 the body one as in the former; aperture oval-oblong 

 with the umbilicus sometimes obliterated. 



The shells are often covered with a calcareous fur or 

 deposit, which nearly hides them, and which has been 

 sometimes mistaken for periostraca. 



All the varieties run so much into each other, 

 that they can hardly be considered as specifically 

 distinct. 



Mr. Jeffreys says, " I have no hesitation in referring 

 the Helix lutea of Montagu to a variety of this 

 species, having found it, both in a living state and 

 thrown up together with other varieties, on the sea- 

 shore near Swansea, within the influx of the Britton 

 Ferry river." Nilson describes one species as living 

 in brackish water in Sweden. The varieties of the 

 shell are in some situations often found reversed, 

 as is the case with the variety recorded by Mr. 

 Bean at Scarborough. It is not uncommon to find 

 some specimens, the spires of which are more or 

 less unrolled, or separated from each other. Indeed, 

 this distortion appears to be more common in this 

 shell than any other British species I am acquainted 

 with. 



