Mr. J. Paget on a new Helix a/id a new Hydrobia. 457 



from that of France, although it is like that found about Genoa, 

 and probably in other parts of Italy. In adult shells the peri- 

 stome is slightly cup-shaped and thickened, while the mouth 

 stands out quite free from the penultimate whorl, as in the 

 Cyclos. sulcatum, which is common at Marseilles, but is not 

 found here. The operculum, although like that of the elegans, 

 is placed at some distance within the aperture, as in the sul- 

 catum. Notwithstanding these differences, which in some speci- 

 mens are so strongly marked, that if observed alone they might 

 induce one to form a new species, the transitions are in other 

 cases so insensible from this to the common form that it can 

 only be considei*ed as a variety. 



The Valvata piscinalis, both here and in Montpellier, has the 

 peristome only subcontinuous. 



The Helix apicina (Lamk.), which is very common at Nice, 

 has always when young, and frequently when old too, a covering 

 of short, weak, and very deciduous hairs. It is extraordinary 

 that the Abbe Dupuy, who must have had the opportunity of 

 seeing this Helix living, should not have observed this character. 

 Rossmassler, whom nothing escapes, had only dead shells to 

 consult, but he conjectures the existence of hairs from the marks 

 on the shell, though he does not dare to form a character from 

 them in his description. 



The Helix strigella (Draparn.) is in like manner commonly de- 

 scribed as without hairs, and Rossmassler speaks of it as " often 

 with weak hairs which are very short and deciduous.^^ I have 

 never found a single young shell of this species that was- not 

 covered with hairs — very short— nor an adult which did not 

 either still retain some, especially on the lower side, or in which 

 the marks where they had been were not quite evident. 



Another hairy shell, commonly deprived of its honours because 

 not studied in a perfectly fresh state, is the Helix rufescens 

 (Flem.), montana (Stud.). I collected it in considerable num- 

 bers near the Lac de Joux and the source of the Orbe in Switzer- 

 land, where De Charpentier indicates it, and I can still see on 

 many of my specimens very numerous short and often reflexed 

 hairs. When fresh they were still more evident. 



The Helix aperta (Born), naticoides (I)rap.), which is exceed- 

 ingly common in the neighbourhood of Nice, and nmch esteemed 

 by gourmands as a Lent dish, has not unfrequently its uniform 

 colour iuteiTupted by bands of a lighter tint. I have specimens 

 in which these bands occupy the positions of all the different 

 bands commonly seen in banded shells. 



I do not make any observations on the varieties of the Helix 

 variabilis and Helix cespitum of this neighbourhood, for I confess 



