00/ 



59. 



Helix minuta. MnJkr. Verm.n.^. 101. No. 299 ? Sexdentatus. 



Gmel Syjl. p. 36607— Turt. Lin. iv. p.538 ? Tab. 12, f. S, 



T. v/ith a fmooth, brown, horn-coloured, oval fliell, 

 with five fpires fomewhat rounded : apex obtufe : aper- 

 ture fub-orbicular; outer lip uneven, fub-angulated; 

 ufually furnifhed with fix teeth, four on the outer lip, 

 and two on the inner. Length one line ; breadth one 

 half its length. Younger (liells have only four teeth. 



We firfl; noticed this fpecies on the Iris pfeudacorus 

 or yellow-flag, in a boggy place in Cornwall, and after- 

 wards in DevonJIdre, but rare : and fince in great abun- 

 dance among the rejeElamenta of the river Avon, after 

 floods, about Lackham in Wiltjhire; probably waflied 

 from the neighbouring meadows. 



It is alfo found about Sandzoich in Kent, 



This fliell might readily be confounded, at firfl; fight, 

 foir the young of T. mufcorum ; the diftorted aperture, 

 and teeth, however, are at once fpecific marks of 

 diftinflion. To T. Vertigo it alfo bears fome refem- 

 blance, but the fliape of the aperture, number of teeth^ 

 and contrary turn of the volutions of that fliell, is fuffi- 

 cient to difcriminate them. 



If MuLLER had not exprefsly faid, " apertura ovali 

 edentula" w^e fliould not have had a doubt of this being his 

 H. minuta : the teeth, however, are not always readily 



X X difco- ' 



