94 HELICIDA. 
This interesting animal is the only British member 
of a genus consisting of nearly one hundred and sixty 
species. It lives underground, and is never found on 
the surface of the earth in a live state. Whether its 
subterranean habits are the cause or the effect of its 
being destitute of the power of sight need not be dis- 
cussed here, but it is the fact that, in common with 
other subterranean animals, it is eyeless. 
Dr. Jeffreys remarks: “In all probability the 
A, acicula lives upon animal matter; for, in the spots 
where it has been found living, no underground fungus 
or other vegetation appears to exist, and the form of 
the shell would induce a belief that this snail is not 
only zoophagous but predaceous. The shells of all 
true Glandina, which are carnivorous, have the same 
kind of notch or truncature at the base as the present 
species of Achatina.” 
It inhabits various parts of England, Wales, and 
Ireland, under stones and at the roots of grass, some 
inches underground. As it would be rather a tedious 
process to search for it by digging all over a district, 
it is perhaps fortunate that another means of obtaining 
it exists. Among the rejectamenta of rivers (Thames, 
Yorkshire Ouse, &c.) specimens are common, being 
doubtless washed away by floods from their native 
localities. The specimens found in this way are of 
