MOLLUSCA IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PONTEFRACT. 425 
abundant than in any other district that I know,—they are 
not very numerous in gardens. They are mostly to be found 
amongst the rocks, at the foot of walls, and on hedge-banks. 
Roadsides, where the vegetation is covered with lime-dust, are 
generally prolific in H. aspersa as well as other snails. In many 
places near Pontefract a score species of land-shells may be 
picked up -within as many yards on the lime-covered road-banks, 
but if the conchologist should turn a few yards into the fields 
he will not find a single shell. I was surprised to hear that 
H. aspersa is now collected and eaten by the working people in 
the vicinity of Pontefract and Knottingley, where it is plentiful, 
in the same way that H. pomatia is used in the South of England 
and in France and Italy. The varieties from Pontefract district 
are as follows :— 
Var. minor, Moquin Tandon.—Bands obsolete. 
Var. conoidea, Picard. 
Var.—Shell very thin, nearly transparent; mouth circular ; 
ground cream-colour; bands five, reddish brown; transverse 
marks of the same colour as the ground. 
Var.—Shell small, dark reddish brown; no bands observable 
outside; transverse marks consist of rows of small oblong, yellow 
streaks, apart from each other. 
Var.—Shell small, a prominent yellowish band in the middle 
of the last whorl; transverse marks straight, not zigzag. 
Var.—Shell very small, being only about one inch in diameter 
and six-eighths in altitude. A white band in the middle of the 
last whorl; transverse streaks white. 
Var.—Shell small; ground colour dark reddish brown; trans- 
verse streaks yellowish and zigzag; a yellow-white band in the 
middle of the last whorl. 
Var.—Shell bandless, of a dark purplish colour; a narrow 
whitish line on the periphery; transverse zigzag marks remote. 
Although the Pontefract district apparently offers all the con- 
ditions for a full and mature development of shells, the specimens 
of H. aspersa, so far as I have observed, do not exceed the average 
size, and very many are small. I have not seen one that comes 
up to the measurements given by Mr. Taylor for the var. major. 
I have looked over Mr. Taylor's ‘“ Life-History” of this species 
in the ‘ Journal of Conchology,’ but I find that he does not touch 
at all on its feeding habits, or on the nature of its food, 
