CHAPTER LXXII: THE AMBER SNAILS 



Family Succineid/E 



Shell oblique, spiral, thin, transparent, of few coils. A 

 family containing several genera of slug-like mollusks. 



Genus SUCCINEA, Drap. 



Shell oval, fragile, glassy, spire short, whorls few. Animal 

 large, barely covered by shell; foot broad; tentacles short, thick, 

 lower pair dwarfed. 



Large genus of two hundred species, distribution universal. 

 Terrestrial, but living in damp places near margins of streams. 



The Oblique Amber Snail (S. ohliqua, Say) is greenish 

 yellow or amber-hued, fragile, rosy at apex; the enlarged body 

 whorl forms nine-tenths of the shell. The rounded whorls are 

 drawn in by a deep suture. The body is somewhat longer than 

 the shell. Though this mollusk wanders sometimes on hillsides 

 away from streams, doubtless it finds the needed moisture, even 

 in the dryer situations. Length, f to i inch. Mississippi Valley. 



The Oval Amber Snail (S. ovalis, Gld.) has its outer lip 

 drawn out until the shell is shaped like a sugar scoop, revealing 

 the interior of the small spire. It is not easy to detect these 

 little snails as they glide over the stems of aquatic plants, or ride 

 on pieces of floating wood. The body and shell both have a 

 translucent horn colour. The oval eggs, laid in June, in clear 

 masses at the roots of aquatic plants, number about twenty. 

 Length, J inch. Canada and Northeastern States. 



Hayden's Amber Snail (5. Haydeni, Binney) is more 

 slender than S. ohliqua, with lip much extended, revealing the 

 interior of the spire. This is the largest known American Suc- 

 cinea. The shell has a uniform amber colour. Length, i inch. 

 United States, central and northern portions, west to Utah. 



The Rustic Amber Snail (5. riistica, Gld.), with a greenish, 

 horn-coloured, rough, lustreless shell, is fragile like the rest. 

 Length, ^ inch. Oregon, California and Nevada. 



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