92 



and the South of Ireland; and the other variety has 

 been found by Mr. Choules at Eltham in Surrey. A 

 monstrosity, having the whorls dislocated and more or 

 less separate from each other, sometimes corkscrew- 

 shape, has been found by Mr. Bean near Scarborough, 

 and by myself on Crymlyn Burrows, near Swansea. It 

 is the Helix Cochlea of Brown (Mem. Wern. Soc. pi. xxiv. 

 f. 10) and H. terebra of Turton's ' Conchological Dictio- 

 nary.' This common species is widely distributed in Eu- 

 rope from Finland (according to Nordenskiold and Ny- 

 lander) to Algeria and Sicily. 



It is a sluggish and slimy as well as a very irritable 

 mollusk, and often indulges itself in floating lazily along 

 the under surface of the water. It lays from 8 to 10 

 capsules, each of which contains from 6 to 21 eggs ; so 

 that it appears to be more prolific than many of its con- 

 geners. 



Its shell may be distinguished from that of P. cari- 

 natus by its narrower and more rounded whorls, as well 

 as by the keel being placed below, instead of in or to- 

 wards the middle of, the periphery. It is usually larger 

 and thicker than that species and is much more gene- 

 rally diffused and plentiful. 



There can be no doubt that this is the Helix compla- 

 nata of Linne", whose epithet " deorsum carinata " is 

 peculiarly appropriate ; but both Muller and Drapar- 

 naud have substituted other names (viz. umbilicatus and 

 marginatus) on what I cannot help considering as very 

 insufficient grounds. If Linne's name was prior to what 

 is termed " the binomial epoch," and therefore inadmis- 

 sible (which is a very questionable objection), still Gme- 

 lin's adoption of that name, as well as Muller's, take 

 precedence of the one proposed by Draparnaud. It must 

 also be borne in mind that this species and P. carinatus 



