126 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. ID, NO. 4, OCTOBER, I9OI. 



mens have the last whorl larger in proportion to the next, or else have 

 the outer lip more or less flexuous; the degree of curvature (which is 

 occasionally double or flexuous) differs considerably, and the 

 periphery is now and then somewhat angulated or keeled."^ The 

 Marquis di Monterosato^ adopts our southern form as the type, which 

 he says is Helix inairva Renier (1804). Gwyn Jeffreys gives the 

 length oi E. ph.ilippii as two hnes, and the whorls as 10-15,* but an 

 example of that length would be a rara avis indeed, and none exceed 

 II whorls. It is not always curved; straight specimens occur in the 

 proportion of five per cent., but from the Doggerbank two-thirds of 

 the specimens are straight. 



Var. gracilis F. & H. — Larger, broader throughout, apex blunt; 

 whorls 10, as type; length varying from i"25 to 2*25 lines. Although 

 scarce, this is not nearly so limited in range as Jeffreys indicates. I 

 have specimens in my cabinet from all the undermentioned places — 

 Guernsey, 18 f; Scilly, 35 f ; Land's End; Berehaven and Bantry 

 Bay ; throughout the Clyde ; Mull of Cantire, 24 f. ; the Minch, 20 — 

 50 f. ; Dornoch Frith ; and solitary specimens from various other parts 

 of the Hebrides. This is very true to form, but variable in size, some 

 specimens being only half that of others. It is apparently straight, but 

 there is frequently an indication of flexuousness about the upper part 

 of the spire. It has the proportions of E. bilitieata of the same size, 

 the apex is blunt, and the periphery is never angulated except when 

 immature. Gwyn Jeffreys sums it up as follows :— -"The var, gracilis 

 is usually straight instead of being distorted or curved, but after a long 

 and close examination I have failed in discovering a single character 

 which would justify its separation from the typical form as a distinct 

 species."^ Still, it is such a distinct form in itself, and its general as- 

 pect so marked from the type, that I should not demur to any one 

 treating it as a good species ; and as a matter of fact Continental 

 writers do so treat it. At the same time, it must be remembered that 

 intermediate forms will often occur to the dredger, and that no one 

 can say where E. philippii ends and var. gracilis begins. The habitat 

 of E. philippii is not clearly known ; it may have two or three ; but 

 this variety, at least on our coasts, appears to live free on the bed of 

 the sea in muddy sand, while the type has been observed as quasi- 

 parasitic on other organisms, and I have found it occasionally in the 

 delicate sea-weeds of rock-pools. The figure in " British Mollusca" 

 is much too long and slender for this variety, and the authors describe 

 it as "much more slender" than the type, and the size as "one-third 

 of an inch," characters which are inapplicable to this variety, but 



1 " Moll. ' Lightning' and ' Porcupine,' " P7-0C. Zool. Soc, p. 367, 1884. 



2 " Nomen. Gen. e Sp.," p. loi, 1884. 



3 " Brit. Conch.," vol. 4, p. 205. 



4 " Moll. ' Lightning ' and ' Porcupine,' " Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 367, 1884. 



