Insects, etc., Injurious to the Strawberry. 469 



coming from the eggs before they become mature '' stem mothers " 

 and commence to produce the living young. 



Where beds have been infested in the previous year it would 

 certainly pay to take a sprayer over them two or three times 

 before the blooms open. 



Beferences. 



(1) Theobald, F. V. Report on Economic 'Zoology for year ending April 1st, 



1905, p. 33 (1905). 



(2) BucMon, G. B. ' Monograph of tlie Aphides,' vol. I., p. 125 (1875). 



THE STRAWBERRY SNAIL. 



{Helix rufescens. Penn.) 



The Strawberry Snail {H. nofescens, Pennant) is a constant source 

 of annoyance to strawberry growers, preferring those plants, violets 

 and iris to all others. I have seen beds of strawberries in Surrey 

 and Cambridgeshire quite spoilt by this snail. The fruit is attacked 

 as well as the young leaves. These snails are seldom seen in the 

 daytime, unless after a shower of rain, when they at once become 

 active. They may often be seen in the suram.er under the straw 

 which is placed between the plants. It has been noticed in gardens 

 where lawn-mowings have been used instead of straw that the snail 

 is not so harmful, but the benefit of straw over the grass is too 

 apparent to pay any attention to the snails, which must be combated 

 in some other way. They deposit their eggs from September to 

 November, each snail laying about sixty eggs. In a breeding-case the 

 eggs were laid on the ground in heaps, but naturally it is probable 

 that they place them below the surface of the soil. The ova hatch in 

 about three weeks, but a few remain undeveloped until the spring. 

 The small snails do not grow very rapidly, as is the case with 

 the large garden snail, Helix aspersa. The shell is compressed 

 above, and angularly rounded below, opaque pale dirty grey, often 

 with a reddish-brown hue, sometimes transversely streaked with 

 brown and marked with a white spiral band which passes round the 

 last whorl; whorls 6—7; last whorl = ^-shell ; mouth obliquely 

 semilunar, furnished inside with a broad white rib. The body of 

 the snail is yellowish-brown with dark brown stripes running along 

 the neck and on the tentacles; foot pale, narrow and slender. 



