VARIATION IN THE SHELL OF HELIX NEMO- 
RALIS IN THE LEXINGTON, VA., COLONY! 
JAS. LEWIS HOWE. 
Tue colony of Helix nemoralis at Lexington, Va., has at- 
tracted considerable attention on account of the large number | 
of varieties found. It was first studied by Major J. H. Mor- 
rison, then connected with the Virginia Military Institute. A 
very considerable number of specimens was collected by him 
and described by T. D. A. Cockerell.? Major Morrison sent 
out quite a number of colonies of the snails, that their varia- 
tions in other localities might be studied, but only one of these 
colonies has been heard from. Early in his studies Major 
Morrison removed from Lexington, and soon after his records 
and much of his collection were destroyed by fire; hence he 
has been prevented from pursuing the study of the colony. 
Up to this time one hundred varieties had been described. 
Later Mrs. John M. Brooke became interested in the sub- 
ject, and from her collections a number of new varieties were 
described by Professor Cockerell.’ 
Last summer (1897), becoming interested through Professor 
Cockerell, I collected a series (“A”) of 1134 shells from my 
garden and that adjacent. The two premises, with a narrow 
alley between, covered an area rather over 200 feet square. 
The present summer (1898) I collected on the same ground a 
second series (“B”) of 1000 shells, and also a series (“C”) 
from the garden where the colony originated. This series 
numbered 1258 specimens. 
The colony is doubtless correctly believed to have had its 
origin in 1883, with the return of Mrs. John Moore from a 
European trip. Mrs. Moore ascribes the colony to straw used 
in packing goods from Florence. It is not impossible that it 
may have come from earth around a collection of ivies. The 
1 Read at the Boston Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement 
2 Nautilus, November, 1889; December, 1894. 
of Science, August, 1898. 
3 Science, N.S. 5 (1897), 985- 
