OF NEW ENGLAND. 413 
draws far within the shell, but in vain. Its enemy slowly 
approaches, and the hapless victim having no barrier to 
interpose, nor any line of retreat open, is actually de- 
voured bit by bit. We remember collecting a lot of rare 
snails in the backwoods of Maine. W hiig to study 
them, they were unsuspectingly placed in a box of moist 
earth containing a few specimens of our cannibal snail. 
Imagine our sétonishtodnt and indignation on examining 
the box a few days after, and finding our special rarities 
completely destroyed, only a few empty shells remain- 
ing as tokens of the cannibal feast. We could almost see 
the murderers smacking their slimy chops and begging 
for more. 
Other species are known which possess this desire for 
animal food, and the collector in France oftentimes se- 
cures a goodly number of specimens by placing a piece 
of fresh meat in the woods, the odor of the meat attract- 
ing certain species; for snails apparently possess, in a 
considerable degree, the faculty of smell, and will, with 
nice discrimination; select from a parcel of leaves those 
most succulent and agreeable. . 
INDENTATA Say. (Fig. 28.) Shell flattened, 
thin, pellucid, highly polished, whitish, sometimes pink- 
ish. Whorls four, rapidly enlarging, Fig. 28. 
With regular impressed lines radiating 
from the suture, reaching nearly to the aC, 
base of the shell. Lip sapie, extending to the centre 
of the shell at its base. Umbilicus absent, though its 
region is indented. Diameter of shell nearly one-fi 
of an inch. Animal bluish black. Inhabits deep woods 
in the Northern, Middle, and Western States. This beau- 
tiful species is not common. It can readily be distin- 
guished from allied species by its closed umbilicus. 
