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VITREA ROGERS! n.sp., 



A British form hitherto misidentified with Helix glabra Studer, 



and Hyalinia helvetica Blum. 



By B. B. woodward, F.L.S., &c. 



(Read before the Society, March ir, 1903). 



(Plate VI.) 



That a well-known and recognised species of British land mollusc 

 should be wanting a name sounds, at first, extraordinary; such, 

 however, appears to be the case. 



When in 1870 the late Mr. T. Rogers, of Manchester, found in 

 Marple Wood, Cheshire, a form of Vitrea {Zonites, as it was then 

 termed) that, though closely allied to V. nlliaria manifestly differed 

 from it, he naturally submitted it to Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys. The latter 

 identified it^ with the '■'■ Helix glabra of Studer, Fer. Prodr. no. 215": 

 in this he was probably not only following Dupuy and Moquia- 

 Tandon, but relying on named examples received from continental 

 conchologists, and he returned to Mr. Rogers a specimen, now in my 

 possession, collected by himself in Normandy. 



Jeffreys further remarks "I also found the same species in 1846 at 

 Grassmere, and in 1857 at Barmouth, but had overlooked it." It 

 seems generally to have been confused with V. alliaria, and frequently 

 is at the present day by observers who should know better. Gray 

 certainly put it with that species, for Dupuy in 1849 writes^ "C'est a 

 tort, ce me semble, que M. Gray ("Turt. Man.," p. 169) rapporte cette 

 espece a VH. alliaria Miller, qui m'en parait bein distincte " and 

 Dupuy's figures'' certainly appear to be of the form now in question. 



Later on, however, as the true V. glabra of Studer, or rather of 

 Rossmaessler^ since he'was the first to describe it, became known it 

 was manifest that the various authorities had misidentified this north- 

 western European form, for the true V. glabra is a larger and much 

 flatter shell with a far smaller umbilicus. 



1 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., (4) vol. 5, p. 385, 1870. 



2 "Hist. Nat. Moll. France," p. 22S. 



3 Op. cit. pi. X., f. 6a-c. 



4 The history of this specific name is interesting; it first appears in F^russac's "Tableaux 

 Systematiques" (1821) Limai^ons, p. 45, "wo. 11s glabra, Studer: //c//-tr «;V/rt'a, Charpentier." 

 (The reference to Charpentier cannot be traced, possibly it refers io specimens sent under that 

 name by Charpentier to Ferussac). It is ne.xt cited by Charpentier (Neuc Dcnkschr. allg. 

 Schiuclz. GcscUsch., vol. i, mini. 2, 1837, p. 13) as "46 Helix glalu-a. Stud, et F(5r. : H. luj-ida, 

 Studer Cat. (sans les synonymes)." Here the reference to Studer cannot be traced unless 

 " lurida" is a misprint for '''■ lucida" and the citation intended to refer to the appendix to Coxe's 

 "Travels in Switzerland;" both these are without any description, but Charpentier gives an 

 unmistakeable figure {loc. cit.; p. i., f. 22); finally it was described and figured by Rossniaessler 

 in his "Iconographie," vol. 2 (Heft. 7, 1S38), p. 36, pi. 39, no. 528. 



