38 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY. 



Boleti, and growth upon beer and wine casks, etc. Mr. Hardy- 

 has preserved all the specimens, which number fifty-seven. 



Thus, although the attempt to rear a brood of sinistral 

 Helices failed, the notes I was able to make are of considerable 

 interest as showing how rapidly a new dart may be formed to 

 replace a lost one, which loss must often occur in a state of 

 nature, judging from the violent use made of this weapon. 

 The exceptional circumstances under which my observations 

 were made must, of course, seldom have a parallel in nature; 

 sinistral individuals of a normally dextral species being so rare, 

 and the great expenditure of darts I have recorded would hardly 

 be likely to occur between two individuals of like form, whether 

 dextral or sinistral. It is rather singular that in spite of my 

 close watching for hours together, and seeing the dart so often 

 used, I never saw the dart actually dragged away from the 

 animals and detached. The nearest approach was in the 

 instance I have noted where the animal pushed it back into 

 the sac. 



The short time required to renew the dart is remarkable, 

 six days being the shortest period I have noted. The eleven 

 pairs of darts produced by my snails were all of full size, per- 

 fectly formed, with not one abnormal one amongst them, and 

 all very much alike. Probably this may be accounted for by 

 the ready access \vhich the animals had to the soft chalk, of 

 which they ate enormous quantities. Respecting the functions 

 of the dart itself, I cannot assign any other use to it than the 

 inducement of sexual excitement prior to coition, as I have 

 described, and with this reason most naturalists nowadays agree. 

 ¥***^ 



Helix rotundata var. alba at Conisborough. — At 



Conisborough the other day I found eight specimens of H. 

 rotundata var. alba. Two under stones round the castle, and 

 six in the woods at the 'Cliff.' Most of the typical rotundata 

 were very light coloured. — Lionel E. Adams, Penistone, 

 [uly g, i8gi. 



J.C., vii., April, i3g2. 



