242 JOURNAL OF CONCHOI.OGY, VOL. I3, NO. 8, OCTOBER, I9II. 



almost everywhere, sometimes forming continuous colonies for miles, 

 and being especially abundant where there is a good hedge-bank 

 with a ditch at the bottom of it. At the same time, miles may be 

 walked along this road side without seeing a solitary "black mouth." 



Helix nemoralis likes an old chalk-pit or a dry railway-bank, and 

 may be found on some of tlie barest hill-tops of the North Yorkshire 

 moors; but it is unusual to find Helix horfensis in such places. But 

 although H. neiiioiaiis may be found in more exposed situations, it 

 hibernates for a longer period than does H. /lo/tensis, wliich I have 

 seen out crawling near Scarborough on January 2. I have not ol)- 

 sevved He/ix tiemoralis abroad earlier than April 16, thougli I have 

 seen the species paired on April 18. 



Away from the coast the larger is much the commoner animal, 

 roughly speaking, say south of the city of York, but northwards 

 from there Helix hoitensis is the more abundant. 



The plan observed for the purpose of these notes has always been 

 to collect, wherever possible, a hundred specimens hap-hazard with- 

 out making any selection of colour or band-varieties. No district 

 has been visited because any species or variety was known to be 

 present in or absent from that district, the writer's object being to 

 find out for himself the comparative abundance of the two species, 

 and their common varieties in the country, taken as a whole, and 

 thus be able to see at a glance by comparison the peculiarities of any 

 local list. All observations have been made personally, and no notice 

 whatever has been taken of specimens received from other collectors. 



According to the writer's observations, the following figures repre- 

 sent the colour and band varieties which make up an average one 

 thousand specimens taken at random in England. The rarer varie- 

 ties roseozoiiata and hyalozonat 1, although found by the writer on 

 rare occasions, could not be included in a one thousand list. 



It will be seen that banded forms of Helix nemoralis, excepting 

 00300, are much more common on the coast than inland, whilst 

 incidentally it is interesting to note, as showing how colour or band 

 varieties may abound in or be al:)sent from a district, that the above- 

 mentioned variety 00300 is so rare within twenty miles of Scar- 

 borough, that in twenty years the writer has not found half twenty 

 specimens in this district ; yet this variety is common on the sand- 

 hills at Redcar on the Yorkshire coast. 



As compared with Helix nemoralis, H. hortensis in a given number 

 of specimens shows much more limited variation in both colour and 

 banding, as well as a greater preponderance of the type form lutea 

 12345. In the latter species also the band form 00300 is extremely 

 rare in nearly all districts. 



