gain; food of some of the British mollusks. 351 



Helix sericea. — Foliage of potato, 3; combine, i ; dandelion, 3 ; 

 groundsel, 3; speedwell, i; white dead nettle, i; creeping 

 loosestrife, i ; persicaria, 2 ; caper spurge^ i ; elm, 3 ; cab- 

 bage, 3; lettuce, 3y white turnip, 2; scarlet runner, 3; 

 beet, I ; Boletus edulis, 1; withered red clover, 3; cooked 

 potato, 2 ; grass ; moss. 



Helix caperata. — Pea; red clover; nettle. 



Bulimus obscurus. — Cooked potato, 2. 



Zonites cellariiis. — Lettuce leaves, 3; the fruit of the raspberry, 4. 



Z. nitidulus. — Lesser celandine, i ; combine, 2; bryony, i; thistle 

 when half decayed, 3; foliage of the onion, 3; houseleek, 2; 

 raspberry fruit, 4; potato root^ carrot root, 3; leaves and 

 roots of the two species of turnip, 2; Agari ens procerus, 2; 

 and the two species of Russula, 3. 



Z. alliariits. — ^Rejected most of the foods offered, but ate freely 

 of lettuce leaves and cooked potato. 



Z. nitidtis. — Appears to feed principally on moist dead leaves; 

 my colony ate those of the oak, chestnut, and lime, besides 

 the fresh leaves of lettuce, cabbage, scarlet runners, and 

 onions, roots of carrot and turnip, and cooked potato. 



Cyclostoma elegixns is another feeder on dead leaves, oak, lime, 

 ash, and elm, preferring those which have lain a year on 

 the ground, but refusing them when dropping to pieces 

 through decay. I kept a few individuals in a glass jar for 

 twelve months with no other food, renewing the leaves 

 from time to time; they also ate mushrooms, turnip root, 

 ripe raspberries, and the foliage of the radish and meadow- 

 sweet. This species appears to have periods of feeding, 

 remaining at other times with the mouth of the shells 

 firmly closed by the operculum ; those active periods fre- 

 quently occur in the depth of winter. 



Sitccinea putris ate freely of lettuce leaves, the score or so of 

 other foods being left untouched except the leaves of the 

 great willow-herb. 



