48 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VUL. I4, NO. 2, APRIL, I913. 



word lafievt], a moist place. But there is no such word. There is, 

 however, eta/xemy, a riverside pasture. 



Abida was a son of Midian, mentioned in Genesis and I. Chronicles. 

 The species secn/e is named from the Latin for rye, a grain which the 

 shell more or less resembles. 



In the sub-genus Lauria was a typical species found in the laurel zone 

 in Madeira or Teneriffe by WoUaston ? It has the species anglica, so 

 named by Ferussac. The other species is cylindracea, though most 

 Pupce are cylindrical. The var. cin'ta is named from being shorter, 

 and var. gracilis from being more slender. 



The sub-genus Jaffiinia contains muscorum, " inhabiting moss." 

 The var. bigranata has two denticles and var brevis is short. 



The genus Vertigo was so named from vertigo a turning round or 

 twist, the Latin equivalent of the Greek Helix. 



Isthmia probably commemorates the Isthmian games at Corinth. 

 Dupuy derives Al(Ba from cxAatos, blind, but this word is aAads, which 

 would not make Alasa. And is the animal blind? Lempriere gives 

 "Alsea, a surname (sic) of Minerva in the Peloponnesus." Mr. Ponsonby 

 sends me the ingenious suggestion that the name is derived from the 

 (I negative and Xatos left, as most species in this section are not sinistral. 



Antivertigo = with a reversed twist. Snbstriata, i.e., slightly striated. 

 Var. quadride?itatcj, with four denticles. Moulinsia?ia, named after 

 Des Moulins, an excellent French conchologist. Alpestris, i.e., 

 inhabiting high places. /'/m//a = minute, a diminutive from the rare 

 piisus, " a little boy." 



F^/V///^, i.e., small and twisted. Afigiistior—nsixxower. Possibly 

 the name refers to the mouth being more contracted than that of V. 

 fusilla, of which it was sometimes thought to be the young. 



Next comes the family of Clausiliidce, the name derived from 

 clausiliu?n, a little door, i.e., possessing a contrivance (not an opercu- 

 lum) to close the mouth. The difficulty of finding the meaning or 

 derivation of the names given by some naturalists is well illustrated 

 by Balea. Dr. Gray is responsible for it, but deigns no interpretation 

 in his edition of Turton, while in a later work he writes Balgea. 

 Jeffreys suggests that Balea is a printer's (or author's) error for badia, 

 i.e., bay - coloured. M. Bourguignat thought it came from /3aAios, 

 spotted, but Jeffreys rejects this " as the shell is not spotted." True, 

 but he goes on in his description of the animal to say " body — dark- 

 brown with a shade of grey, covered with minute black tubercles and 

 specks." In this case it should be Balia and not Balea or Balcea. 

 Very far-fetched is D'Orbigny's derivation from an obsolete Latin 

 word balea, signifying a boat or vessel. The sole species perversa is 



