1038 Mollusks. 



Carnivorous propensity of Snails. If you should think it worth insertion, I may 

 mention that about a fortnight ago, when fly-fishing, I saw five of the Limax agrestis 

 busily devouring a May-fly each, and this in the middle of a large meadow. — W. O. 

 Newnham ; Chaplain's House, Guy's Hospital. 



Carnivorous propensity of Snails. It is now twelve years since I first noticed, near 

 Penzance, the carnivorous propensities of snails, and I believe the fact was first pub- 

 lished by me in the ' Zoologist,' (Zool. 201). I had often been laughed at for the 

 statement, but no sooner had it appeared in print, than it was corroborated by numer- 

 ous observers. And the wholesale slaughter noticed by my friend Mr. Wollaston, in 

 your May number (Id. 943), is tolerably conclusive on the point. I have observed nu- 

 merous instances since the commencement of my entomological campaign this spring 

 — sometimes large snails with several small Coleoptera at once in their maw, — but it 

 was only a few days since that I convicted a water-snail of similar atrocity, by netting 

 Lymnaea stagnalis with a large larva half eaten, apparently that of a Dyticus. A 

 strange " concatenation accordingly," to find the devourer of that fresh -water shark, 

 the pike (Zool. 200), himself overpowered and devoured by a snail ! The Lymnaea, I 

 may remark, makes a singular and very audible squeaking noise when taken from the 

 water and handled, I suppose by the expulsion of the water from the shell in contract- 

 ing. Mrs. Buckland has favoured me with a curious fact, in which this species is im- 

 plicated, not actively but passively, in the work of mutual destruction which pervades 

 Nature, and which argues considerable anatomical knowledge in the heron. " After 

 a great flood at Otmoor, I found a vast number of Lymnaea stagnalis left by the retir- 

 ing waters: every shell had been robbed of its inhabitant by the herons. The shells 

 lay in little heaps of five or six, accompanied by the dung of the birds : they were all 

 broken in the same manner," (by being pierced at that point of the spire where the 

 muscular attachment takes place), " evincing much dexterity in the devourers, for by 

 breaking them in this way only, could the animal be completely taken out. The Pa- 

 ludina vivipara shells were also emptied, but unbroken." — Frederick Holme ; C. C. C. 

 Oxford. 



Fresh-water Shells in Cornwall. Having lately found in Cornwall a few land and 

 fresh-water shells, which have not as yet been noticed as occurring in this county, I 

 have been induced to forward a list of them to you, hoping that they may find a place 

 in a future number of ' The Zoologist.' The Fauna of a corner of our island, 

 such as Cornwall, must always be interesting to those who study geographical dis- 

 tribution, and it will, of course, be more useful, in proportion as it becomes more com- 

 plete. The study of Natural History in this part of England, has been greatly facili- 

 tated by Mr. Couch's valuable work, now complete. Perhaps some other of your cor- 

 respondents will furnish lists of land and fresh-water shells found in their respective 

 neighbourhoods. The following is the list of those shells not mentioned in Mr. 

 Couch's Fauna which have come under my observation. 



Arion hortensis Helix aculeata Vertigo substriata 



Limax agrestis Zonites nitidulus Planorbis albus 



maximus lucidus imbricatus 



Cyclas lacustris excavatus Pisidium pusillum 



Helix fulva purus pulchellum 



I believe also that Helix pulchella has been found by Mr. Peach. In a recent excur- 

 sion to the coast near Falmouth, I found Kcllia suborbicularis and rubra, which I do 

 not find mentioned in Mr. Couch's valuable Fauna. I suppose the notice of them 



