THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 313 
delicate neuroptera, with finely fringed wings and slender 
feelers, create doubts as to whether they are not really 
allies of the clothes moth, so close is the resemblance. 
Thus the student is constantly led astray by the wanton 
freaks Nature plays, and becomes sceptical as regards the 
truth of a natural system, though there is one to be dis- 
covered ; and at last disgusted with the stiff and arbitrary 
systems of our books,—a disgust we confess most whole- 
some, if it only lead him into a closer communion with 
nature. The sooner one leaves those maternal apron- 
strings,—books,—and learns to identify himself with 
nature, and thus goes out of himself to affiliate with 
the spirit of the scene or object before him,—or, in 
other words, cultivates habits of the closest observation 
and most patient reflection,—be he painter or poet, 
philosopher or an insect-hunter of low degree, he will 
gain an intellectual strength and power of interpreting 
nature, that is the gift of true genius. 
THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 
BY EDWARD 8. MORSE. 
(Continued from page 188. 
THE snails thus far described een a natural group 
having, generally, a stout, heavy shell, and usually a re- 
flected lip to the aperture. The jaw is heavily ribbed, 
and the teeth are short, and, on the extreme border of the 
membrane, serrated. The jaw and teeth of Helix albo- 
labris, figured in the first number of the NATURALIST, 
represents well like characters of the group. The species 
now to be considered have smooth or polished shells, the 
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 
