FAMILY COLIMACEA. 85 



Belomphalus rupestris and saxatilis, Hartmann (1840), Syst. Oast. vol. i. 



p. 120 and 122. pi. xxxvii. f. 1 to 6. 

 Helix spirula, Villa (1841), Disp. Syst. Conch, p. 56. 

 Helix aliena, Ziegler (1841), Pfeiff. Symb. part 1. p. 39. 

 Helix (Hygromane) rupestris, Moquin-Tandon (1855), Hist. Moll. vol. ii. 



p. 192. pi. xt. f. 10 to 13. 

 Hah. Central and Southern Europe. Madeira. Throughout Britain. 



(Chiefly among rocks in mountainous places.) 



One of the most conspicuous characteristics of the shell of this 

 species, and from which Montagu derived his name, is its largely 

 excavated perspective umbilicus. S. rotundata has an almost 

 equally large umbilicus, but the shell is much larger, red-spotted, 

 and densely rib-striated throughout. Here it is smooth, and the 

 species is altogether smaller. "The animal," says Moquin-Tandon, 

 "is sluggish and irritable, especially when exposed to the light, secre- 

 ting a veiy abundant mucus." It has been noticed from the earliest 

 observers to dwell chiefly among rocks in mountainous districts in 

 all parts of Britain and in Central and Southern Europe. It has a 

 characteristic analogue, very similar in character and of similar habit, 

 in S. saxicola of Cuba and Texas. 



Dr. Gray complains that English conchologists have done an in- 

 justice to their countryman Montagu, in not having more generally 

 adopted his name of umbilicata for this species. He claims priority 

 for it on the ground that Montagu's name was published in 1803, 

 whilst the name of rupestris appeared for the first time in the post- 

 humous Hist. Moll, of Draparnaud, published by his widow in 

 1805. The name rupestris was given to this Helix by Studer, in 

 his appendix to ' Coxe's Travels in Switzerland in 1789,' and it was 

 adopted by Draparnaud in the ' Tableau ' published during his life- 

 time in 1801, with the following very accurate description, not only 

 of the shell, but of the animal and its habits: — " Coquille brune, 

 torse ; spire elevee, ouverture ronde, ombilic evase. Haut. 2 mill., 

 larg. 2\, diani. 2J. Habite France meridionale sur les rochers eleves 

 (4 tours). Animal noiratre, plus pale en dessous. Tentacules supe- 

 rieurs courts, gros ettres-obtus; inferieurs a peine visibles a la loupe, 

 et semblables a de petits tubercules. II redresse sa coquille, et la 

 porte tres-elevee, lorsqu'il marche." The book is very scarce. My 

 own library copy, formerly in the library of Professor Brongniart, 

 and generously presented to me by M. Bourguignat, is the only one 

 that I have seen. 



