British Land and Freshwater Shells. 379 



{J. G. «/.), and Cork {Humphreys). The shell is extremely 

 thin and finely striated lengthwise ; the spire is very small, 

 the last whorl disproportionately large, and the mouth more 

 open and expanded than in any other European species. I 

 regard it as the 8. virescens of Morelet (Moll. Port. p. 53, 

 pi. V. f. 3, 1845), and not as his >S'. dehiUs (PfeifFer, Mon. 

 Helic. Viv. p. 811, 1859) , which Baudon names it. The last- 

 named author says (Journ. Conch. 3" sdr. t. xvii. p. 181) 

 as to 8. debiUs^ Morelet, " Synonymic : 1845. Morelet, Moll, 

 de Portugal, n. 63,p. 52, pi. v. f. 2." But in Morelet's work, 

 now before me, no such species as dehiUs is described, figured, 

 or mentioned. In PfeifFer's monograph 8. dehilis^ Morelet, 

 is fully described, and numbered '' 63," from Cuming's col- 

 lection, with the habitat " Algeria." There consequently 

 appears to have been a slight mistake in Baudon's reference 

 to Morelet. I have now examined the types of 8. dehilis^ 

 Morelet (two specimens), in the British Museum; and I 

 believe that so-called species is one of the numerous varieties 

 of 8. elegans (or Pfeiferi) , viz. hrevispirata^ Baudon, and not 

 the same species as 8. virescens^ Morelet, nor my variety 

 vitrea of 8. putris. Baudon's description of the animal of 

 his 8. debilis differs from Morelet's description of the animal 

 of 8. virescens chiefly in colour, the former being " gris 

 jaunatre," and the latter " brun roussatre"; although I do not 

 attach much importance to that character. Not merely does 

 the intensity of colour vary in many specimens of the same 

 species of land shell, but also the arrangement of the colours. 

 This is very noticeable in Helix riifescens^ out of which a 

 dozen species might be made if colour were a specific charac- 

 ter ; and a similar difference is observable in the shell. 8. 

 putrisj 8. elegans^ and 8. oblonga may readily be known by 

 their " animals " or soft parts, as well as by their shells. It 

 is quite impossible thus to distinguish 8. elegans from 8. 

 Pfeifferi^ or the 8. gracilis of Alder, all of which are con- 

 nected by intermediate gradations. 



Helix hispida, L. 

 Helix concinna, Jeffr. 



As one of the distinctive characters of these two species 

 is the shape of the umbilicus in the shell, I cannot help re- 

 marking that Dr. Westerlund, in his excellent work, * Fauna 

 Europ^a Molluscorura Extramarinorum Prodromus,' fasc. i. 

 p. 49 (1876), describes H. hispida as "sat late umbilicata," 

 var. nana^ Jetfr., as "umbilico latiore," var. depilata^ C. 

 Pfeiffer, as " apertius umbilicata," and var. concinna, Jeffr., 

 as " late umbilicata." I have, on the contrary, described H. 



