194 .lOURNAL OF CONCHOl.OGV, VOI,. I4, NO. 7, JtTLY, I9I4. 



The following may be taken as a general description of shells of 

 this group : — 



'' Shell rather small, depressed, narrowly umbilicated (as a rule), 

 solid and chalky ; surface striated ; apex corneous or dark ; whorls 

 about 4^ to 5, the last rather wide and rounded. Aperture round- 

 lunate, lip simple, strengthened by a submarginal rib within " 

 (Pilsbry, etc.). 



The surface is usually encircled with one or more fuscous bands, 

 but in some instances the bands are more or less interrupted and 

 faint, or absent altogether, the shell being unicolorous. In others, 

 again, the ornamentation takes the form of ' mottlings,' />., blotches 

 of different colour, more or less irregular in size and shape (//. apicina, 

 H. conspurcata, etc.), with sometimes a tendency to run together and 

 thus produce an almost unicolorous form, such as the var. /?/;/z;fl' o{ H. 

 caperata. 



They inhabit a variety of situations, such as hedgerows, meadows, 

 grassy banks, sides of water-courses, under stones, and on the stalks 

 of grasses and other plants on dry sandy soils, often in close proximity 

 to the sea. Many of the species are particularly hardy, enduring 

 great changes of heat and cold. 



The individual species, too, are subject to a certain amount of 

 variation as regards size and number of individuals, according to the 

 prevailing environmental and physical conditions in diff'erent'localities. 

 Thus there is a tendency for large forms and large numbers to be 

 present where a calcareous soil is combined with abundant food- 

 plants, while the plant-association alone, or the calcareous soil alone, 

 does not appear to produce the same effect. 



Helicella caperata (Mont.). — This was first described and 

 figured as a British species by Montagu in 1803 (Test. Brit., p. 430, 

 plate ir, fig. 11), but the figure of the shell 'is an exceedingly poor 

 one. The description, however, is excellent, and removes any doubt 

 as to identity.^ 



On the continent this' species bears various other names, such as 

 fasciolata and interseda of Poiret ; intersecta Michaud ; striata Drap. 

 (in part), etc. Poiret's names are certainly earlier than that of 

 Montagu, but his descriptions are much too brief and obscure for 

 accurate discrimination. As to Draparnaud, his striata appears to 

 cover several species, including profuga Schmidt and candidiila 

 Studer, as well as caperata Mont. Apart from this his name cannot 

 be adopted since it had been used previously by Midler for another 

 species of Helix (also of this Section). 



Stelfox has adopted the name H. intersecta of Poiret in his Irish 



I Since I read this paper Mr. J. W. Taylor has told me that he has seen Montagu's type 

 and it is undoubtedly our British species. 



