300 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. l6, NO. 9, JUNE, I922. 



In captivity it is omnivorous, eagerly devouring lettuce and carrot 

 (though I noticed it preferred the latter in a slightly decayed and 

 mildewed condition) and even turning cannibal if overcrowded or 

 kept short of food. 



H. linibata is subject to the usual natural enemies of the snail 

 tribe ; it is eagerly devoured by the field mice that swarm in the 

 Devon lanes, in fact, where it occurs the sliell is more often found 

 gnawed through in the characteristic mouse fashion than any other 

 shell except H. striolata and H. hortensis. It is also eaten by birds. 

 I only noticed three or four thrush stones near its haunts, but found 

 by each of these two or three broken shells, together with an equal 

 number of H. striolata and swarms of H. hortensis. I further found 

 a dead specimen tenanted by a larval glow-worm {Lampyris nodiluca^ 

 and two of my captives were devoured by an immature Limax 

 maximus. 



Judging from the large number of very young and immature speci- 

 mens 1 found in October, 191 7, I believe its chief breeding time to 

 be June and early in July ; after breeding it testivates and at this 

 stage I fancy (from the great number of fresh dead shells found in 

 autumn) that the greater part of the old animals perish. A few 

 (possibly late examples of the previous year which have sestivated in 

 a virgin condition) emerge alive in autumn and appear to produce a 

 partial second brood. I found two copulating on October 3rd, 1917, 

 but most unfortunately these were mixed with my other specimens 

 and accidentally killed. A pair also copulated in a tin box in my 

 pocket in January, 191 8, but I regard this as being due to the abnor- 

 mal heat caused by being carried for several hours in a crowded box ; 

 they were unluckily killed by a sudden frost so again I failed to 

 obtain the egg. Mr. A. W. Stelfox, who succeeded in breeding 

 H. limbata in captivity from examples I sent him in October, 191 7, 

 describes the egg and young as being very like those of H. striolata^ 

 without any trace of hair on the first shell. 



My collecting dates appear to bear out my idea of the breeding 

 time of the species ; in early October it abounded from very young 

 to almost adult, but very few tiad formed a lip \ in January quite half 

 were fully adult and most of the remainder full-sized or nearly so, 

 with a few very young ones suggestive of a partial second brood ; in 

 April all were fully adult except for a similar small batch now half- 

 grown, and in August all were adult or very young indeed, obviously 

 newly hatched. The eggs are almost certainly laid on the damp 

 decaying leaves in which the whole active life of the snail is spent. 



Mr. H. Beeston, who visited the locality on August 20th, 191 9, a 



