PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. lOI 



shelb (East Riding), including Paludhia conteda, sent by Mr. Albert 

 Marker, Cambridge ; from Mr. Hugh Richardson Unio pidorum and various 

 Helices from Minden, Westphalia ; from Mr. W. A. Gain, a collection of 

 shells, including Helix undata and its curious dart ; from Rev. H. Milnes, 

 a collection of varieties of Helix arbtistormn from Derbyshire. 



MANCHESTER BRANCH.— April 13TH, il 



Mr. Darbishire exhibited specimens of Helix apeHa and read the 

 following notes: — ^^ Helix aperta, reviving after long drought." It has 

 long been a matter of curious observation that Helices of species which are 

 often exposed to very dry seasons preserve their life through long intervals. 

 Aucapitaine, writing on the climate of Algeria, observes that in certain parts 

 of the deserts, where there is a constant heat of over 1 10° Fahr. and where 

 there is not a trace of vegetation to be seen, the ground is sometimes covered 

 with Helix ladea so as to seem whitened. At the end of 1858 he collected 

 a dozen of these shells while passing through places where, it is said, no rain 

 had fallen for five years. The shells were put in a box, and packed away 

 and forgotten. In August, 1862, he found them, and threw them into water 

 to clean them. Next morning, to his astonishment, he found them all gone. 

 They had escaped from his basin, and, full of life, se promenaient, every one 

 of them, on the furniture of his study (L'Escargot, Dr. J. Reynes). Dr. 

 Baird's H. desertoruin, having been brought from Egypt, was fastened on a 

 tablet on the 25th of March, 1846, and on the 7th of March, 1850, came 

 out, but could not get away, was released, bathed, and " marvellously 

 recovered." Similar facts have been reported by other naturalists. On the 

 1 8th of February, 1885, I bought in the market at Nice a quantity of Helix 

 aperta, which, at that season, is found in the red muddy soil with its cal- 

 careous operculum strongly sealed on, and is much sought for cookery. I 

 kept a few in cotton wool and a paper box in iny workshop. Not one cer- 

 tainly ever opened his door to look out. In December last it occurred to me 

 to try if these snails could yet be alive. The shells seemed to have lost all 

 perceptible weight and coolness (both common signs of life), and one, which 

 I broke up, showed the animal dried up like a bit of hard horn. I placed 

 two on a pad of flannel under a shade and kept them thus in a moist 

 atmosphere in my living room. After a few weeks the opercula were forced 

 off, and the edge of the mantle was seen as if the animal had just withdrawn 

 rather far back. Afterwards the mantle advanced and the foot slowly 

 became more and more visible and sensitive to irritation. I put the two on 

 some moss in a damp fern case and on the 29th of March I had the pleasure 

 of meeting my two Helices out walking, slightly feeble, but in good colour 

 and substance, and gave them some fresh cabbage leaf of which they ate 

 temperately. This is, perhaps, a more remarkable case than that of H. 

 desertorum, which has habitually to calculate upon prolonged abstinence. 

 H. aperta is a comparatively large, fleshy snail, and no doubt usually enjoys 

 spring and autumn regularly. 



