HELIX. 201 



12. H. SERI'CEA*, Miiller. 



H. sericea, Mall. Verm. Hist. pt. ii. p. 62; F. & H. iv. p. 71, pi. cxviii. 

 f. 5, 6. 



BODY yellowish-grey, closely tubercled: mantle reddish- 

 brown, with milk-white specks : tentacles rather long, of an 

 iron-grey colour : foot rather broad and slightly raised at its 

 sides. 



SHELL conical, subglobular, thin, but (by reason of its 

 colour) not usually semitransparent, scarcely glossy, greyish- 

 white, with sometimes a few slight transverse streaks of 

 reddish-brown, very finely but indistinctly striate in the line 

 of growth : periphery rounded, and never keeled or angulated : 

 epidermis rather thick, closely covered with rather long and 

 very fine, white, downy hairs, which are persistent, and, when 

 rubbed off, leave their sockets very perceptible, giving the sur- 

 face in that case a finely granulated appearance : whorls 6, 

 extremely convex, the last occupying nearly one-half of the 

 shell : spire considerably raised, but blunt : suture not very 

 deep : mouth semilunar, much broader than high, sometimes 

 (in adult specimens) furnished with a slight internal white 

 rib, which is much stronger towards the umbilicus : outer 

 lip thin, a little reflected, scarcely at all inflected above : 

 umbilicus exceedingly small, but deep, having more the 

 character of a perforation. L. 0-2. B. 0*3. 



Yar. cornea. Shell horncolour, very thin, glossy and 

 semitransparent ; the labial rib perceptible on the outside. 



HABITAT : Mossy banks and hedges in various parts 

 of the country, from the Moray Firth district to Corn- 

 wall, as well as at Tenby and Manorbeer in Pembroke- 

 shire. I am not aware of any Irish locality. The 

 variety was found by me at Lulworth. This species 

 occurs in our upper tertiary beds. It inhabits the more 

 temperate parts of Europe ; but according to Krynicki it 

 is found in the Caucasus, and Gerstfeldt has recorded 

 it as occurring in the province of Irkutsk in Siberia. It, 

 however, seems to be local both here and abroad. It is 

 * Silky. 



