36 



NOTE ON HELIX RUFESCENS OF PENNANT. 



By E. a. smith, I.S.O. 



From the Annals and Magazine of Natural History 

 (Ser, 8, Vol. xi., February, 1913). 



The object of the present note is to show that the shell 

 universally regarded as the Helix rufescens of Pennant is not the 

 form which was described and figured by that author. 



The description appeared in the fourth volume of his ' British 

 Zoology' (published in 1777) on page 134, and the figure of the 

 specimen described is given on pi. Ixxxv. fig. 127. His species is 

 included in his second group, " Ventricose," and the description 

 runs thus. 



" Snail with four spires, and minutely umbilicated ; the exterior 

 spire sub-carinated. Of a pale brownish red mottled with white. 

 Inhabits woods. 



' ' Tab. Lxxxv. fig. 127." 



It must also be observed that he referred to Lister's work of 

 1678, 'Hist. Anim. Anglise,' quoting Lister's Latin diagnosis and 

 referring to his figure. 



Lister's shell^ I believe, from his description, to be the rtifescens 

 of authors, and Pennant was wrong in supposing that it was the 

 same species as that which he himself was describing as Helix 

 rufescens. 



The actual shell described by Pennant is now in the British 

 Museum, and proves to be merely a young example of the 

 common Arianta arbustorum. 



Pennant, having quoted Lister's description and figure as 

 representing his own species, it seems probable that subsequent 

 authors adopted that conclusion without ever seeing Pennant's type, 

 and consequently this wrong identification has been perpetuated. 



Da Costa in 1778 was the first to adopt the Listerian shell as 

 the rufescens of Pennant. He was followed by Donovan in 1802, 

 Montagu in 1803, and by nearly all subsequent authors up to the 

 present time. 



Although it may seem to some inadvisable to alter a well- 

 established name, it appears to me that in the present case there 

 is no help for it. I might here observe that, in addition to the 

 type of Helix rufescens, the ATuseum has recently acquired fourteen 

 other types from the Pennant collection, besides sixty-one specimens 

 which, although not types, are of historic interest, being the actual 

 shells figured in Pennant's classic work. 



I Lister referred lo cantiana Montagu, as "vel varietas vel alia species." 



