HELIX. 189 



sisting of a mere film which is spread on the columella: umbi- 

 licus very small and oblique, nearly concealed by a fold of the 

 outer lip. L. 0-5. B. 0'8. 



Yar. \.flavescens. Shell yellowish-white, generally with- 

 out any band. 



Var. 2. major. Shell larger : spire more depressed. L. 0-7. 

 B.I. 



Var. 3. alpestris, Ziegler. Shell smaller : spire more 

 raised. L. 0'5. B. 0-65. 



Var. 4. fusca, Ferussac. Shell dark-brown, with or with- 

 out the band, very thin and semitransparent. 



HABITAT: Among alders and in moist and shady 

 woods and hedges, as well as occasionally in meadows 

 by the side of rivers, from Zetland to Cornwall. It is 

 rather a local species, and does not appear to have been 

 found in the Channel Isles, probably because the con- 

 ditions there are not suitable to it. Vars. 1 & 2 are not 

 very uncommon. Var. 3. Hoddesden, Herts, on the 

 marshes by the side of the River Lea, the specimens 

 being numerous and all of the same form and size 

 (Pickering). Such a locality is very remarkable for this 

 dwarf variety, which I have taken on the Swiss Alps, in 

 the region of perpetual snow. The same variety occurs 

 in the upper tertiary beds at Copford. Var. 4. Lunna, 

 East Zetland, where there is no limestone or other cal- 

 cr.^ous rock. This probably accounts for the extreme 

 thinness of the shell. It appears to be the H. picea of 

 Ziegler. My cabinet contains a distortion, from Oxford- 

 shire, in which the spire is exceedingly raised. This 

 species is distributed over the greater part of Europe. 

 Von Wallenberg has recorded it from Lapland; and 

 Aradas and Maggiore found it in Sicily. Mr. Lowe has 

 included it in his list of Madeiran land-shells. 



Bouchard-Chantereaux says that this snail lays its 

 eggs from July to September, and that the young attain 



