230 HELICIDJE. 



in several parts ; tubercles oblong and arranged in close 

 lines, smaller in front : mantle tumid, forming a narrow 

 collar and leaving a slight space empty round the neck : 

 tentacles very long and slender, dark-brown, shagreened; 

 bulbs very globular : foot delicately edged with milk-white, 

 ending in a long, narrow, triangular and keeled tail. 



SHELL nearly circular, shaped somewhat like one of the 

 men in a backgammon board, except that this is spiral, flat 

 above, with a slight depression in the middle, and com- 

 pressed below, rather solid, opaque and of a lurid aspect, 

 reddish-brown, finely and closely striate in the line of 

 growth : periphery rounded, but compressed : epidermis 

 very thick, closely covered with stiff reddish-brown hairs : 

 whorls 6 J, cylindrical, but compressed at the sides, gradually 

 increasing in size, the first (being the nucleus of the shell) 

 nearly smooth and polished, and the last slightly dilated 

 towards the mouth : spire sunk below the level of the last 

 whorl : suture rather deep : mouth obliquely triangular, in 

 consequence of a tooth-like protuberance at the peripheral 

 edge : outer lip reddish- white, very thick and reflected, its 

 upper margin abruptly and considerably inflected : umbilicus 

 rather large, exposing part of the whorls (especially the last 

 but one) and all the internal spire. L. 0'2. B. O5. 



HABITAT : On stumps and at the roots of trees in woods 

 at Ditcham and Stoner Hill near Buriton, in Hampshire, 

 where it is rather common. It is a native of France, 

 Germany, Switzerland, and Lombardy ; but it does not 

 seem to inhabit the extreme North or South of Europe. 



This curiously - shaped snail is rather active, and 

 secretes a good deal of clear slime. Its epiphragm is 

 chalky- white and remarkably thick. 



Considerable doujbt has been raised by many British 

 conchologists (myself included) as to H. obvoluta being 

 really indigenous to this country. It was first noticed 

 by Dr. Lindsay (in 1831) as occurring in Ditcham 

 Wood. He found with it Zonites cellarius and Helix 

 rufescens. Mr. Hawker says, in the ' Zoologist ' for 1853 

 (p. 3764), " The two ridges (Stoner Hill and Ditcham 





