THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 
PLATE 1. 
BY E. S. MORSE. 
We offer to our readers the first of a series of papers on 
the Land Snails of New England, with the intention of 
carefully figuring every species of land snail known to 
occur within the prescribed boundaries. We shall also 
give a general history of the group, mentioning the hiding 
places of different species, and whatever facts we may 
think of interest to the general reader. 
Certainly a more unassuming subject could not well be 
studied, for aside from the soothing pleasure of lying 
down, dorsal region uppermost, in some secluded grove, 
and hunting for half a day among the decaying leaves, up- 
turning the different layers of successive autumnal depos- 
its of withered foliage, even as the geologist throws open 
the different pages of the “Great Stone Book,” the earth’s 
crust, in quest of material for study,—aside from this 
quieting pursuit, we have no stirring incidents in their life 
to contemplate, no frantic hops, skips, and jumps of the 
insect tribe, no terrible bites to dread, or poisonous stings 
to shrink from, no enemy of our husbandry (except occa- 
sional injury from the garden slug) to bafle, no giant 
stride or rapid speed to wonder at; for the snail is pro- 
verbially slow in every respect. When disturbed, it does 
not, like many other animals, struggle violently to escape, 
but ceases motion, or quietly withdraws itself within its 
shell. Even the heart, which in higher animals, when agi- 
tated, pulsates with increasing energy, in the snail under 
similar excitement, throbs with a slower motion. And yet 
