110 HELICID.E. 



and the five-banded (H. fasciata Shepp.) are dis- 

 tinct kinds, because he says they always breed to- 

 gether ! He also observes that the spicula of the 

 one-banded kind is four-sided in the middle, and 

 perfectly straight ; in the five-banded it is also four- 

 sided in the middle, but curved, as in H. aspersa ! 



When the shells are lying exposed to the sun with- 

 out any shelter, their upper surface often becomes of 

 a fine pink or rose- colour. 



The eggs are white, ovate. (See Pfeiffer, t. 7. f. 3.) 



The animals sometimes have a morbid appetite, 

 and eat worms, and even cooked meats. (See Sow. 

 Zool. Journ. i. 285.) 



On this animal is sometimes found a parasitic 

 insect, which has caused considerable interest among 

 the entomologists, and which has proved to be the 

 larva of Drilus flavescens. (See Mielzinsky, Isis, 

 xvi. (1825), p. 477.) 



The last three species in their normal state have 

 five spiral bands ; the three hinder being continued 

 on the whorls of the spire, and the anterior hidden 

 in the cavity of the shell. 



One or more of the bands are rarely divided 

 longitudinally, when the shell appears to have six or 

 seven bands. 



One or more bands are sometimes more or less 

 distinctly deficient ; in other specimens some two or 

 more of the bands are confluent together, making a 

 single broad band. 



In other specimens the colouring matter which 

 forms the band is diffused over the whole surface of 

 the shell, and sometimes the bands are interrupted. 



