380 Zoological Society. 



torpor. The specimens in question had formed two or three suc- 

 cessive pomata, one within the other, during the process of their 

 desiccation. 



In hopes of restoring their animation, I placed them upon some 

 wet moss in a warm room. Two of them proved to be past recovery, 

 but the animal of the third was seen through the transparent shell 

 to be gradually enlarging in bulk by the absorption of moisture, and 

 at the end of a week it finally reached the door of its dwelling, threw 

 off the poma, and began to crawl. A morsel of boiled carrot was 

 presented to it, which it greedily devoured, and speedily increased in 

 health and vigour. I have now kept this interesting creature a 

 twelvemonth, and have often been tempted to exclaim with Oken, 

 " What majesty is in a creeping snail ; what reflection, what ear- 

 nestness, what timidity, and yet at the same time what confidence ! 

 Surely a snail is an exalted symbol of mind slumbering deeply within 

 itself." 



Since its revival my Nanina has greatly increased in size, and has 

 added half a volution to its shell, which now measures ^ inch in 

 diameter. Its favourite food is boiled carrots and raw lettuce-leaves. 

 It generally remains quiet during the day, but crawls forth and shows 

 considerable activity in the evening, and has never shown any incli- 

 nation to hyberaate or become torpid for a lengthened period. 



The shell of Nanina vitrinoides is brown, glossy and pellucid, and 

 in shape and colour closely resembles the shells of the European 

 genus Zonites, from which, without examination of the animal, it 

 seems to be generically undistinguishable. The animal however is 

 very different, and is more allied to, though quite distinct from, that 

 of the genus Vitrina. The foot, when contracted, is too large to be 

 withdrawn into the shell, except after a considerable period of desic- 

 cation. When expanded, and at full stretch, the foot is remarkably 

 long and narrow, measuring about two inches in length and \ inch 

 in breadth. The hinder extremity is abruptly truncate, surmounted 

 by a short horn-like appendage, similar to that in the larvae of certain 

 Lepidopterous genera. But the most peculiar character in the ani- 

 mal of Nanina is that of the two elongate pointed lobes or flaps which 

 project from the margin of the mantle, one on each side of the mouth 

 of the shell. These lobes possess a certain amount of lateral motion, 

 and a considerable power of retraction and expansion, but are always 

 kept in close contact with the surface of the shell. 



The animal is in the frequent habit of performing the following sin- 

 gular operation, which, as far as I am aware, has not before been no- 

 ticed in any terrestrial mollusk. Crawling to the top of its prison 

 (which consists of an inverted tumbler, with a small aperture for air), 

 it suspends itself to the glass by the hinder half of the foot, and twists 

 the anterior part round, so as to bring its lower surface into contact 

 with the shell. By the great length and flexibility of the anterior 

 half of the foot, it is enabled to twist in a variety of directions, 

 and thus to crawl as it were over every part of its own shell in suc- 

 cession, the hind-part of the animal remaining all the while firmly 

 attached to the surface of the glass. During this operation the 



