34 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. l6, NO. I, JANUARY, I9I9. 



lane. On the right-hand side, i.e., facing west, is a dense scrubby 

 vegetation of ash, maple, hazel, thorn, bramble, with much ivy on the 

 ground." Here he found H. obvoluta alive in quantity. Then he 

 adds significantly : " I don't believe there is a beech nearer than half- 

 a-mile away." He also expresses the opinion that "the association of 

 H. obvoluta and the beech tree is pure coincidence and not inten- 

 tional." Possibly at some earlier period this particular district may . 

 have been covered with beech woods, and, given suitable conditions 

 of shelter and food, the molluscs would no doubt accommodate them- 

 selves to the altered environment. 



Mr. Clement Reid some years ago carefully noted the localities 

 where II. obvoluta was found by him in West Sussex, one of which was 

 a hazel copse near Chilgrove. Respecting this habitat I quote the 

 following : " At some of the localities I only saw bleached shells, but 

 I cannot now say which these were. Chilgrove was one of them ; so 

 that the shell might date from a time when it was a beech-wood and 

 not a hazel copse." I am unable at present to say whether the snail 

 is to be found there alive now. 



Unlike some other species, H. obvoluta when it completes its growth 

 in spring does not show growth lines, perhaps owing to the thick hir- 

 sute epidermis. The animal attains maturity in six or seven months, 

 and the best cabinet specimens are those which complete the develop- 

 ment in spring, as the epidermis is generally then quite perfect. 

 Those reaching maturity in autumn are usually badly " weathered," 

 often being quite denuded of hairs and epidermis, and much bleached. 



I wish here to make some remarks on statements found in the 

 earlier, manuals on British moUusca. 



In Dr. Gray's Turton, page 139, respecting the habitat of H. obvo- 

 luta, he says: — "Inhab. among moss near roots of trees." It may 

 occasionally be found among moss, but my experience is that its chief 

 habitat is among the leaves, where in the daytime it may be found 

 sticking on the undersides well out of sight, and very frequently at a 

 considerable distance from the beech trees. In damp weather it may 

 be seen crawling on the moss which covers the decayed, partly buried 

 stumps of the old beech trees, left to rot after the trees have been 

 felled, and from the crevices of which it has crawled after hibernation. 

 But it is only in spring that it may be found on moss ; for the rest of 

 the year it seems to prefer the shelter of leaves or fallen timber. 

 When found near roots of trees I believe that it is on its way to 

 feed on the trunks, and may take shelter temporarily there. I have 

 never found the snails in tlie crevices between the roots of the trees. 

 Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys (vol. i, p. 230) gives : — "Habitat: on stumps and 

 at roots of trees iri woods." This is more correct than Dr. Gray's 



