3764 Mollusks. 



All the above species are found in the immediate neighbourhood, 

 except Helix poruatia, which is found at Stonesfleld, about ten miles 

 distant. 



Alfred Merle Norman. 



Clevedon, Somerset, December 11, 1852. 



Discovery of Helix obvoluta in Hampshire. — Last winter, while superintending the 

 marking of trees for thinning, in the beech-hangers which cover Stoner Hill, I poked 

 about in the moss and dead leaves with a small prong, which I usually carry on such 

 occasions to assist me in my search after chrysalids, shells, &c, when I turned up a 

 dead shell of Helix obvoluta. Being a shell-collector, this of course instantly set me 

 looking for more, and I succeeded in finding four or five, all dead. The next few 

 days I devoted to the search, and discovered living specimens ; and with the aid of a 

 couple of the gamekeeper's children, whom I chartered for the occasion, I obtained al- 

 together about a hundred dead and about eighty living specimens. On the first day 

 of my search there was a rather hard frost, and all the living specimens I found were 

 buried in the moss or decayed stems. There was afterwards a thaw, and some rain, 

 and then they were to be found, towards evening, coming out to enjoy themselves and 

 creeping over the moss. The locality mentioned in Turton's Shells (Gray's edition) 

 as the habitat of H. obvoluta is misprinted in my copy ; it should be " Ditcham Wood, 

 Buriton, Hants," and not " Brenton." Ditcham Wood is about six miles from here, 

 but is on a ridge of the chalk downs nearer the sea than that on which Stoner Hill 

 stands. The two ridges are here quite distinct, and the intervening country is low and 

 flat ; therefore I do not think it possible that H. obvoluta could have spread or wan- 

 dered to the Ashford woods from Ditcham. I make this remark with reference to the 

 supposition expressed in Turton that it has probably been introduced and naturalized 

 from abroad. Some time ago I obtained a few specimens of H. obvoluta from Ditcham 

 Wood, and I have been lately informed that some have been taken in the large beech- 

 woods of Uppark, which joins Ditcham, but I have not yet seen any of them. I ob- 

 tained all my Ashford specimens within a few hundred yards of the spot where I dis- 

 covered the first shell, and have not yet searched the other woods near, but have no 

 doubt that it is to be found in similar localities, and this I shall endeavour to ascer- 

 tain, for I firmly believe it to be a true native of England, though local in its distribu- 

 tion. The number (though only obtained by a most persevering search, as they were 

 in winter quarters), and the fine growth of the specimens I collected, also incline me 

 to this opinion. I have not observed its habits in summer, but mean to do so if I can, 

 and shall be curious to ascertain if it prefers a northern aspect ; the hill on which I 

 got mine faced about E.N.E. I have not yet seen that volume of Forbes and Han- 

 ley's ' Mollusca ' which contains the description of H. obvoluta, and therefore know not 

 whether the following circumstance is mentioned there, but as it is not alluded to in 

 Turton, will run the risk of communicating a fact which may be already well known, 

 and state that all the living specimens I found had the shell thickly covered with very 

 fine hairs, similar to those on Helix hispida, and which are so extremely brittle as to 

 render it a matter of great difficulty to get the animal out without rubbing them off. 



