26 NEW- YORK FAUNA MOLLUSCA. 



Obs. The species of animals belonging to this group are very numerous, and have all a 

 strong family resemblance. They have been united together by Lamarck into one family, 

 under the name of Colimaces. They are so abundant in Europe as to become positively 

 injurious to cultivated plants. They form the basis of a nutritive soup in the south of Europe, 

 much prized by invalids. The best accounts of the American species are to be found in the 

 writings of Say ; of Dr. Binney, in the Boston Journal of Natural History ; of Dr. Gould, 

 and a few others whose names will be cited in the following pages. 



Helix albolabris. 



PLATE II. FIG. 12.— (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Cochlea, virginiana. Lister, Conchology, pi. 47, fig. 45. 



Helix albolabris. Say, Nich. Encycloped. Vol. 4, pi. 1, fig. 1. Long's Eiped. St. Peter, Vol. 2, p. 258. Am. 



Conch, pi. 13. 

 H. id. Ferussac, Hist, des Mollusques, pi. 43, figs. 1, 3. 



H. id. Binney, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2, p. 476, pi. 13. 



H. id. Jay, Catalogue of Shells, p. 43. Adams, Am. Jour. Vol. 40, p. 272. 



H. id. Wiieatley, Cat. Shells of United States, p. 17. 



Description. Shell orbicular, subconvex. Whorls five to six, rounded, with numerous minute 

 oblong striae, crossed by exceedingly minute revolving lines. Aperture contracted by the 

 lip, which is abruptly and widely reflected. Umbilicus of the mature shell covered by the 

 reflected lip, which is continued to the base of the shell. In the young, the umbilicus is 

 open, and the lip not reflected. Spire slightly elevated. Suture distinct. 



Color. Almost uniformly of a yellowish brown, occasionally with a pinkish hue. Lip 

 white. The animal varying from white to cream-color ; its back with glandular tubercles. 

 Foot pointed behind, and its length twice the diameter of the shell. 



Transverse diameter of shell, 1 * - 1 • 3. 



This is one of our largest and most common shells, occurring in moist and shady places in 

 every part of the Union. According to Dr. Gould, they deposit their eggs (which are white, 

 opake and elastic, and varying from thirty to eighty in number) in the month of June. They 

 are placed in light mould by the side of rocks and logs. In about twenty or thirty days, the 

 young animal issues forth with a shell containing one whorl and a half. In October they cease 

 to feed, and hiding themselves under a log or stone, with the aperture upward, close it by 

 secreting a thin membrane. In this state they remain torpid during the winter. 



Common as this species is, and long as it has been known, I find no allusion to it in the 

 last edition of Lamarck. The name albolabris of Daudebert, figures as a variety? of H. 

 bonplandi of Lamarck, which is a very different shell. 



