somerville: achatina acicula in a roman cemetery. 43 



small white things. These on examination proved to be Acha- 

 tina acicula. On further emptying the earth, more appeared, 

 and still more ; until when I had finished I counted no fewer 

 than one hundred and thirty specimens, all of which had come 

 out of one small bottle, two inches in height and one-and-a 

 half inches in diameter. They were various sizes, some full 

 grown, others young. It was interesting to find this compara- 

 tively scarce species, not only in such abundance, but in such a 

 very remarkable place. The mollusc is semi-subterranean, but 

 a few inches are usually the limit of depth to which it penetrates. 

 The lachrymatories and bottles were taken from a depth of from 

 ten to twelve feet. The graves were, originally of course in the 

 ground, but they have long been covered over with several feet 

 of drifted sand, enough to bury out of sight the adjoining 

 theatre. 



The questions naturally arise how and when did these little 

 snails gain access to the bottle ? what induced them to enter 

 the trap which to them became a real cinerary urn ? 



The shells are quite fresh and glassy in appearance, but in 

 all probability have lain many centuries in their resting place. 

 The soil is sandy and very dry, and would long preserve anything 

 buried in it. The bottle in which they were found appears to 

 have been used for unguents. Can it be tiiat when the cork 

 decayed the contents proved attractive to the mollusc ? I 

 searched the contents of some lachrymatories of the ordinary 

 form without finding any shells. 



On mentioning my discovery to M. Bonfils, curator of the 

 Mentone Museum, he informed me that the species is some- 

 times found at the roots of salade plants, but that he had also 

 found it in the interior of earthenware pots from the Roman 

 tombs. 



