150 Beautiful Shells. 



The widely-spread Balea fragilis has been con- 

 founded with the pupce, but it is far too tapering. 

 It is a small, thin, delicate, shining, and rather 

 transparent shell, of a yellowish horn-colour, and in 

 length about the third of an inch. It is found in 

 trunks of trees, and amidst mosses and lichens. 

 The dark close shell, Clausilia nigricans, with 



55. 56. 



55. Balea fragilis (the Fragile Moss Shell), Drapamaud. 

 56. Clausilia nigricans (the Dark Close Shell), various. 



which we have grouped it, is better known as the 

 common Clausilia ; but it is quite a conchologist's 

 shell, having long escaped vulgar popularity, though 

 very generally distributed throughout Great Britain. 

 This exclusiveness is due to its habits and colour, 

 which render it far from easy of detection. Its 

 length is half an inch, breadth from a twelfth to an 

 eighth, and it inhabits old walls. The animal, as 

 may be inferred from the shell, is very thin and 

 slender, so much so that in motion it is incapable 

 of raising its shell, but drags it along in the same 

 line as its foot and neck, although when going to 



