NOTES AND QUERIES. 345 



a farm labourer, who speedily produced three specimens from under a log 

 of wood, but told me that they were not at all plentiful there, as the soil 

 was sandy and not chalky, and he said I must look for them on the 

 neighbouring chalk downs, whence his master, the farmer, procured his for 

 the purpose of adopting the diet which, when ill, he had been advised to 

 try. Be H. pomatia indigenous or not, there is no doubt its presence in 

 England has been assisted by importations, for Mr. Lovell Reeve mentions 

 its being introduced from Italy by an English nobleman in the vicinity of 

 Box Hill and Reigate (cf. also Gray's 'Turton,'ed. 1840, p. 35). The 

 Helix scalaris, referred to in Venables' work on the Tsle of Wight, is cited 

 in that book as a monstrosity of H. aspersa ; and Moquin Tandon's figure 

 of the variety scalaris is of the usual coloration of that species. The name, 

 however, was originally betowed by Miiller on a variety of H. pomatia 

 (Lamk., ' Anim. sans vert.' second edition, vol. viii. p. 32), and is figured as 

 such by Draparnaud; but Venables' reference seems to apply to a scalari- 

 form variety of H. aspersa observed by Dr. Gray near Ventnor." — W. C. 

 Atkinson (Streatham), Nature, May 24. 



VERMES. 



Subcutaneous Worms in a Shrike.- On the 15th July I was skinning 

 a Red backed Shrike, Lanhis collurio, about three hours after is was killed, 

 and was surprised to find between the bone of the skull and the skin three 

 translucent worms, measuring about two inches, one inch, and three-quarters 

 of an inch in length, and as thick as a pin. The shortest showed signs of 

 life, and wriggled one extremity considerably ; the others did not move 

 perceptibly. A similar instance was recorded, I believe, a few years ago, 

 but I have not that number of ' The Zoologist' by me to refer to. I am 

 not aware of any explanation being given, but record this, hoping that some 

 one may explain more fully than has already been done the reason of this 

 occurrence. The Red-backed Shrike is not common in Glamorganshire, 

 but I caught two young ones just fledged on the same day as the above, 

 and saw one or two more about the same place. — Edward J. Gibbins (The 

 Graig, Neath, Glamorgan). 



[The worms in question are doubtless some species of Filaria, probably 

 F.attenuata. At p. 309 of 'The Zoologist' for 1881 will be found a 

 communication from Mr. Herbert Langton on subcutaneous worms in 

 a Falcon, to which is appended an interesting note from Dr. Spencer 

 Cobbold, who points out that Filaria are remarkably abundant in the 

 muscles and soft parts, not only of the rapacious, but also of the passerine 

 and some other birds, and specifies some of the genera in which they have 

 been found. Mr. Langton has quite recently forwarded to us some more of 

 these subcutaneous worms, which he found in a young Horn bill (Buceros), 

 on which we hope to report later. — Ed.] 



2b 



