JACKSON : VI TREA I.UCIDA AT GRANGE-OVKR-SANDS. 67 



improbable that they have fallen a prey to the carnivorous propensities 

 of V. liirida. Its habits in captivity lend strong support to this 

 conclusion, as a number of individuals I had under observation refused 

 vegetable matter if supplied with freshly killed animals of other species. 

 Living species, even Si/cciiietx, placed' with them in the box, were 

 speedily killed and the shells beautifully cleaned out. It was really 

 very amusing on one occasion to see a V. htcida at each end of a 

 dead body of PIa?iorl>is a/bus pulling away like two ducks at a worm. 

 VHrea hicida is a species which continues to breed well on in the 

 year, and during September last, Mr. J. Kidson Taylor, who was 

 again a member of our party, obtained a specimen which commenced 

 to lay eggs immediately it was placed in the collecting tube. Fourteen 

 eggs altogether were deposited. 



During our stay at Grange another habitat for the species was 

 discovered on the Furness Railway embankment, quite a third of a 

 mile from the Lindale Road cliffs. Judging from the number of 

 examples, both living and dead, and the large size of some of the 

 individuals, the species appears to be well established in this new 

 locality. Some of its companions here were Vitrea cellaiia, Pyia- 

 niidula rotutidaia, Hygroinia riifescens, Agrioliinax agrestis^ Arion 

 ater and A. siibfnscus. The conditions under which it lives here are 

 pretty much the same as on the Lindale Road cliffs ; it occurs among 

 stones and clinkers, overgrown with moss, ivy, and small clumps of 

 nettles. 



Though, in all probability, the species was introduced here on laying 

 the railway line, the original specimens being carried from the cliffs 

 either wnth timber or stones for building up the track, ^ no doubt 

 exists in my mind as to it being indigenous in the Grange district, 

 and it is quite possible that it will yet be found in other places in the 

 neighbourhood, especially where patches of the old woodland have 

 remained untouched. 



There appears to be some considerable difficulty among collectors 

 in distinguishing V. litcida from its near ally V. cellaria, especially in 

 its young state. In the adult stage there is no mistaking the species, 

 as the characteristic enlargement of the last whorl as it approaches 

 the aperture, coupled with its large size, distinguishes it at once from 

 any of its allies. But in its immature stages it is often extremely 

 difficult to decide whether it is hicida or the large convex variety of 

 cellaria (var. conipacta Jeff, probably, V. scharffi Kenn., in part) which 

 occurs so abundantly in certain areas. Immature shells of V. lucida 

 resemble this form very closely, both in shell and colour of animal. 



I Since writing this paper Mr. F. Booth tells me that he found a dead shell of the species on the 

 railway embankment near Holme Island, which might indicate another similarly introduce^ 

 colony. 



