32 TEST ACE A ATLANTIC A. 



(§ Xerophila, Held.) 



Helix armillata. 



Helix ' striata, Drap. ? ' Lowe, Cambr. Phil. S. Trans, iv. 



53 (1831) 

 „ Lowei, Pot. et Mich, {nee Fer. 1835), Gall, des 



Moll. 91 (1838) 

 „ armillata, Lowe, Ann. Nat. Hist. 113 (1852) 

 „ „ Pfeif., Mon.Hel. iii. 116 (1853) 



Alb'., Mai Mad. 20. t. 2. f. 32-35 (1854) 

 „ eumaeus, Lowe, Proe. Linn. iSoc. Lond. ; Zool. 198 



(1860) 

 „ armillata, Morel., Hist. Nat. des Acor. 174. t. 3. f. 7 



(1860) 

 „ „ Drouet, Faun. Acor. 155 (1861) 



Habitat ins. omnes sec. Drouet, seel ins. fere omnes sec. 

 Morelet; in cultis inferioribus juxta mare, vulgaris. Prope 

 Horta, in ins. Fayal, prsecipue abundat. 



I cannot feel altogether satisfied that the H. armillata, 

 Lowe, should be separated specifically from the smaller and 

 more depressed form of the common European H. caper ata, 

 {striata, Drap.), which is so often to be met with, commingled 

 with the larger and typical one, throughout the maritime and sub- 

 maritime districts of southern Europe ; indeed Mr. Lowe himself 

 regarded it originally as a mere state of that species. At Madeira 

 it is locally abundant ; and, according to Morelet, it has been 

 taken lately by MM. Bouvier and de Cessac in S. Vicente of 

 the Cape- Verde Group. It occurs also around Mogador, on the 

 west coast of Morocco, — where it is a trifle more strongly 

 costate-striate, and from whence it was re-described by Lowe, 

 in 1860, under the name of if. eumceus. 



In the Azorean archipelago the H. armillata is said by 

 Morelet to be common ' dans la plupart des iles,' but Drouet 

 (after specially mentioning Sta. Maria and Fayal) adds ' Habite 

 tout l'archipel ; ' and it seems to me, therefore, that it presents 

 another instance of that sad want of precision which character- 

 izes these vague expressions of universality which we are called 

 upon to believe without the slightest evidence being supplied, 

 to show that they are strictly true. If Drouet really obtained 

 the H. armillata on the whole nine islands of the Group, why 

 does he not say so plainly ? But, knowing as I do the extreme 

 difficulty of procuring even the commonest forms on every 

 single island of a widely scattered assemblage, I cannot but 

 feel unbounded surprise that so overwhelming a proportion of 

 the Gastropods of MM. Morelet and Drouet should have been 

 recorded by them as inhabiting ' tout l'archipel.' 



