Nanma. 459 



swelling so much that if it is suddenly thrown into boiling water, the 

 attempt to return into the shell invariably causes a fracture of the aper- 

 ture. Drought, however, effects its retraction gradually, and it then 

 covers itself with a whitish false operculum, similar to those of other 

 Helices. The shell itself differs in nothing but superior size from the 

 common little Helix lucida of Europe. The animal is dark brownish 

 with the exception of the sole and the posterior extremity, which are 

 livid. The colour of the animal seen through the polished diaphanous 

 brown shell has a very rich appearance. 



Besides the narrow edge of the mantle which is reflected over the 

 sharp edge of the aperture forming a fold on the outer surface, two 

 processes are projected over the shell ; one of them is thrown off at the 

 upper angle of the aperture, near the foramen commune, the other at 

 the periphery ; both are extensible, corrugated, and flexible in every 

 direction, the upper one reaching, when extended, beyond the apex of 

 the shell. They are continually in motion and exude a liquor which 

 lubricates the shell, supplying, apparently, that fine gloss which is 

 observable in all recent specimens. There is an orifice under the posterior 

 caudiform appendage in the form of an isosceles triangle with the apex 

 downwards, whence a thick greenish juice exudes when the animal is 

 handled or irritated, the caudal appendage being turned up and protruded 

 towards the exciting object. This appendage much resembles the anal 

 horn of the Sphynx caterpillars. One of the largest specimens which 

 I have seen was much injured by being repeatedly dropped by a gentleman 

 who discovered it crawling on a rock, and who was deterred by the 

 threatening appearance of the tail, which he imagined might contain a 

 sting, and with which it endeavoured to reach his finger when seized. 

 The motions of the animal are quick as compared with those of its 

 congeners, and like Helicolimax it only crawls the faster when disturbed, 

 instead of retracting its tentacula. It carries the shell horizontally or 

 nearly so, while in Helix the axis of the shells forms a very large angle 

 with the horizon. 



It deposited much excrement in long curled rolls which were brown 

 when the animal was newly captured, but when fed on the leaves of an 



