JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY. 225 



Probably all molluscs have some })rotective peculiarity. The 

 Zonites having a thin glossy shell inhabit dark places, under 

 stones, &c., and have more or less an alliaceous odour and pro- 

 bably a nauseous taste. The larger Helices which creep about 

 boldly have a thick strong shell requiring (as the Thrushes know) 

 hard rapping on a stone to break it. It is a significant fact that 

 inany species (I believe observation will elicit a great number) 

 have a hairy epidermis when newly born, and this points to some 

 protective capacity. Mr. Jeffery quotes the case of H. Cantiana 

 as observed by Mr. Adams, (J. C, No. i, vol. v, p. 24), few 

 would expect to find a trace of hairs on such a shell, yet it is seen 

 in the young. 



It is only fair to say that the original notes (here slightly 

 extended) were written for the conchological section of the 

 Birmingham Nat. His. and Microscopical Socy., in 1874. I sent 

 them — with all the drawings I made to illustrate them — to Mr. . 

 Jeffery, when I saw his paper (J. C, No. i, vol. v., p. 17), which 

 adds to our knowledge by shewing the method of production of 

 the hairs. My notes were afterwards (at his request) sent to 

 Mr. J. W. Taylor, hence they are honoured — as I think above 

 their deserts — by being here. If there should be anything in 

 them which awakes a desire in my fellow workers for further 

 observation upon the same line, I shall be the first to avail my- 

 self of it, feeling sure that I have much yet to learn. 



Helix arbustorum monst. sinistrorsum in Derby- 

 shire. — Early in August Mr. C. Oldham sent me a fine speci- 

 men of this rare form, which he had found on nettles by the 

 roadside, at Ashwood Dale, near Buxton, on August ist. The 

 specimen belongs to the var. flavescens, in this respect 

 differing from the only other example I know of, which was of 

 the normal colouring, and figured by Ferussac as monst. a, on 

 pi. xxix. of his great work. — Jno. W. Taylor, Sept. 29th, 1887. 



