On Helix rufescens of Pennant. 2G3 



XXV. — Note on Helix rufescens of Pennant. 

 By E. A. Smith, I.S.O. 



The object of the present note i.s to show that the shell 

 universally regarded as the Helix rufescens of Pennant is not 

 the form which was described and figured by that author. 



The description ap|)eared in the fourth volume of his 

 'British Zoology' (published in 1777) on page 134, and the 

 figure of the specimen described is given on pi. Ixxxv. fig. 127. 

 His species is included in his second gi'oup, " Ventricose," 

 and the description runs thus : — 



" Hnail with four spires, and minutely unibilicated ; the 

 exterior spire sub-carinated. Of a pale brownish red mottled 

 •with white. Inhabits woods. 



''Tab. LXXXV.Ji<j. 127." 



It must also be observed that he referred to Lister's work 

 of lG7y, 'Hist. Anim. Anglije,' quoting Lister's Latin 

 iliagnosis and referring to his figure. 



Lister's shell * I believe, from his description, to be the 

 rufescens of authors, and Pennant was wrong in supposing 

 that it was the same species as that which he himself was 

 describing as Helix rufescens. 



The actual shell described by Pennant is now in the 

 British Museum, and proves to be merely a young example 

 of the common Arianta arhustorum. 



Pennant, having quoted Lister's description and figure as 

 representing his own si)ecies, it seems probable that subse- 

 quent authors adopted that conclusion without ever seeing 

 Pennant's type, and consequenily this wrong identification 

 has been perpetuated. 



Da Costa in 1778 was the first to adopt the Listerian shell 

 as the rufescens of Pennant. He was followed by Donovan 

 in 1802, Montagu in 1803, and by nearly all subsequent 

 authors up to the present time. 



Although it may seem to some inadvisable to alter a well- 

 established name, it appears to me that in the present case 

 there is no help for it. I might here observe that, in addition 

 to the type of Helix rufescens, the Museum has recently 

 acquired fourteen other types from the Pennant collection, 

 besides sixty-one specimens which, although not types, are 

 of historic interest, being the actual shells figured in Pennant's 

 classic work. 



* Lister referred to cantiatia, Montagu, as " vel varietas vel alia 

 species." 



