46 



THE SENSE-AND NONSENSE— OF THE NAMES OF THE 

 BRITISH LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS. 



(Presidential Address delivered at the Annual Meeting, Oct. 12, 1912). 

 (Conchidcd fi-om p. 22) 



By The Rev. Canon J. W. HORSLEY, M.A. 



The species jevelata = discovered ! ritfescens is reddish. 



The genus Acanthimila, tlie " small thorny one," contains lafiiel/atcr, 

 i.e., having plates, the epidermis being raised into ridges ; and aadeata 

 i.e., spiny, in which the ridges are produced into spines. 



The genus Vailoni'a, perhaps after Vallonia, the goddess of valleys, 

 contains pulchella, i.e., small and beautiful ; costata, i.e., ribbed ; and 

 excentrica, in which the whorls are not concentric round the umbilicus. 



The genus Helicodotita (toothed snail) contains with us only obvo- 

 luta. The word means wrapped up. 



Helicigona, i.e., the Helix with angles, is represented only by lapicida 

 i.e., the stone cutter. Its var. siibangnlata means with a somewhat 

 sharp angle. Mr. Knight thinks that Arianta may be named from 

 Ariantas, a Scythian king, mentioned by Herodotus. It contains only 

 arbitstorum, i.e., frequenting shrubberies or copses. The var. 

 canigonensis is named from having been noticed first at Mt. Canigou 

 in Spain. The var. cincta is also called /(^///Va by Taylor, the former 

 name denoting that it has a peripheral band, the latter that its colour 

 is pale yellow. Var. j^^^^wi-^-^/w— somewhat yellow. 



The genus Helix (the old Greek word for a coil) is divided now 

 into several sections of which Helicogena^ Cepcea^ and Enparyplia are 

 alone known to Britain. The first name denotes " of the same race 

 as Helix " ; the second, I presume, is derived from the Greek K7/7rei!aj, 

 " to rear m a garden" ; and the third comes from the Greek for having 

 a handsome border, an allusion I suppose to its definite white lip. 

 Aspersa means besprinkled. Var. tenuior, i.e., thinner, has a much 

 thinner shell than usual, probably only a matter of diet. Var. exalbida, 

 not "very white" (some nomenclators think the prefix ex denotes 

 excessive) but becoming white (by loss of pigment). The name 

 qiibiqiiefasciata of Requien, the Corsican conchologist, is better and 

 the equivalent of the var. zofiata in our list, which has five separated 

 dark bands on a yellowish ground. Var. flammea, i.e., flame-shaped, 

 has the bands broken transversely. Var. unicolor, i.e., of one colour, 

 which is fawn. Var. tindulata, i.e., undulating — marked with oblique 

 dark streaks across the whorls. 



