NOTES ON THE BRITISH DISTRIBUTION OF 

 TESTACELLA. 



By LIONEL E.. ADx\MS, B.A. 



(Read before the Society, Dec. 14th, 1910). 



On reading the lists of British locah'ties of the Testacellce, so carefully 

 compiled by Mr. Taylor in his "Monograph," one cannot help being 

 struck by the fact that in almost every case the records are from 

 gardens, or at any rate from cultivated ground, or from ground 

 immediately adjoining such, and the question immediately arises as 

 to what extent the three species are native ,to the soil. 



I have been at some trouble to enquire into the particulars of those 

 records where the nature of the habitat is not specified, with the 

 result that in only one instance the collector specifies wild ground. 

 This record is from iNIr. J. R. le B. Tomlin, who replied to my 

 enquiries as to his record for T. haliotidea at Hele Bay, Ilfracombe, 

 as follows : — " The Testacella (of which we found some four living 

 and a dead specimen) was, I should say, distinctly on wild ground. 

 It occurred under stones in a little hollow on the cliff much over- 

 grown with brambles." On the other hand, further enquiry elicits 

 the fact that gardens surround this little bay, and the slugs might 

 possibly have escaped from these gardens. 



Concerning the following records from the " Monograph " I have 

 failed to gather any information, but in almost every case they may 

 refer to gardens or cultivated ground. 



' "Z! haliotidea Drap. 



Wilts. S. — Frequent at Devizes, also Trowbridge (J. E. Vise, Wilts. 

 Mag., ix., no. 27, p. 178, 1866). 



Bedford. — Abundant in the south of the county, F. W. Phillips, 

 May, 1890. 



Monmouth. — Plentiful at Mathem [? Malthern] near Ciiepstow, 

 April 26, 1892, E. J. Lowe. 



The following, however, seem to refer to natural wild grounds. 



" T. sadidtim Sow. 



Somerset N. — Leigh Woods, rare, T. G. Ponton, 1862 (Leipner's 

 Bristol List, 1875). 



Surrey — -Headley Lane, under beech leaves near Box Hill, April, 

 1886 !T. D. A. Cockerell." 



I " Monograph of the Land and Freshwater Mollusca of the British Lsles," J. W. Taylor, 

 vol. ii., part 8, p. g, et seq. 



