68 The Mollusca of Wiltshire. 



var. fuscescens (Duchassaing). — Idmiston (W. L. W. Eyre) ; 

 Devizes (Miss Cunnington and Heginbothom). 



var. canigonensis (Boubee). — Devizes (Heginbothom). 



var. conoidea (Westerlund). — Devizes (Heginbothom). 



var. flavescens (Moquin-Tandon). — Devizes (Heginbothom). 

 Helix aspersa (Miiller). — Abundant everywhere. Cockerell 

 wrote : " They are largely eaten by the people round Swindon under 

 the name of wall snails. I was assured by one who had eaten them 

 that they are very excellent. The same practice obtains in East 

 Somerset, where they are spoken of as ' wall fish.' " It was at one 

 time thought that this species may have been introduced into 

 England by the Eomans, as it occurred in many Eoman stations : 

 but of late years several undoubted pre-Koman localities have been 

 recorded, notably kitchen middens one mile from the present sea- 

 shore on the shores of the Mersey, and at Harlyn Bay, in Cornwall. 

 Mr. J.W. Flower, F.G.S., has commented upon the fact that it fre- 

 quently occurs in British barrows in "Wilts. Three specimens were 

 found about 2ft. below the surface during the excavation of a. 

 Romano-British dyke, Shiftway Coppice, near Rushmore, by General 

 Pitt-Rivers, in November, 1882. They were associated with H. 

 pomatia and H. nemoralis, also flint flakes, a spindle-whorl, pottery,. ; 

 and bones of domesticated mammals. Six specimens were found ; 

 during excavations at Rotherly in 1887. Excavating at Bokerly ; 

 Dyke, in 1888, General Pitt-Rivers found one hundred and eighty- i 

 three oysters, three fragments of mussels, one hundred and nine 

 JET. aspersa, and twenty-four H. nemoralis. " Bokerly Dyke, the ] 

 present boundary-line between Dorset and Wilts, is an entrench- ' 

 ment of high relief, nearly four miles in length, running in a north- 

 wfesfe and south-east direction, across the old Roman road, which j 

 runs from Sarum to Badbury." — (Pitt-Rivers). It is not far from | 

 Cranborne. Period Romano-British. Occurring in such numbers, ■ 

 we may conclude H. aspersa was then an article of food ; and it j 

 would seem that the practice of eating it has lingered to the present ] 

 day in "Wilts and East Somerset. See " Addenda." 



var. exalbida(Menke). — Around Devizes on both sides of the ' 

 Kennet and Avon Canal (Heginbothom.) 



