BKESTON: KIEl.n NOTES ON KEI.ICODONTA OBVOLUTA. 33 



in roots. The chalky epiphragni is also formed in summer ; when- 

 ever a spell of dry weather comes on, the animals crawl among the 

 leaves or beneath a piece of timber, form the epiphragm, retreat far 

 back into the shell, and remain thus sealed up till damp weather 

 returns, when they again emerge. 



Although the heaps of leaves provided a fair number of hibernated 

 shells, the beech stumps supplied the majority. The snail appears 

 to seek the company of its fellows in autumn and winter, and several 

 are frequently found quite close together in the stumps and among 

 the leaves, and the underside of a dead branch often provides a 

 number of specimens in autumn just before hibernation takes place. 

 In the adult stage H. obvobita is a gregarious species. Apropos of 

 this subject of hibernation, I was much amused, not to say surprised, 

 at a statement contained in an article in The Zoologist, August, 191 5, 

 pp. 312-314, by Mr. E. W. Swanton on H. obvohita. He there 

 states : — " Some years ago, upon pointing out the shell to an old 

 game-keeper, he remarked that he knew it well, and that once when 

 digging out rabbits in the wood in winter he came across some of 

 the shells '■stuck together ifi a lump as big as my fist^ an observation 

 tending to show that these molluscs assemble for hibernation in 

 the manner often adopted by Helix aspersa^ 



A very small amount of experience of the habits of H. obvoluta, 

 particularly in winter, would convince anyone that the remarks of the 

 " old gamekeeper" were erroneous. As before pointed out, the snails 

 form an epiphragm during hibernation, and are never under any cir- 

 cumstances found "stuck together." They lie scattered about singly 

 among the leaves, although one may often find several specimens in 

 the space of a few square feet. 



H. aspersa is abundant in the beech woods, and hibernaces among 

 the roots of trees (hazel frequently), and a rabbit hole would consti- 

 tute an excellent means for the snails to find their way among the 

 tree roots. I have on one or two occasions found " bunches " in such 

 places, glued tightly to the roots, flints, and each other. 



H. obvoluta is very abundant in the beech woods where it occurs, 

 and is sometimes much more plentiful than H. lapicida, and quite as 

 numerous as Pomatias elegans. On many occasions I have obtained 

 over one hundred specimens during a short winter afternoon, and in 

 frosty weather. 



Mr. E. W, Swanton states that "It is always associated with beech 

 trees." I cannot concur in this ; it is not strictly confined to beech 

 trees, as the following observations will abundantly prove, communi- 

 cated to me by Mr. A. W. Stelfox in April, 190S. He says: — "I 

 ^valked over the downs and down to a little very old, deep cut, Sussex 



c 



