By the Rev. J. E. Vize. 



93 



hcutus, Helix Piscina (by the way about the prettiest shell we possess,) 

 can only be found in the proximity of the sea ; whilst Helix obvo- 

 hita, has only been discovered in one or two Hampshire localities, 

 and H. lamellata is a north British shell ; hence there are but very 

 few more to secure, except the genus Vertigo, of which five species 

 are not yet recorded, and which are difficult to obtain alive from 

 the peculiar residences they choose. 



In the next family for examination (auriculacea) , there are four 

 species, three of which are inhabitants only of decidedly brackish 

 water. This completes the Pulmonifera, i.e. those creatures 

 having shells which breathe only air, and which have no operculum. 1 



We come now to those which breathe air and water, and which 

 also have no operculum, the Lymnacea of which there are twenty- 

 three: out of these twenty are known by us in Wilts, one is strictly 

 Irish, and the other two doubtless are in the county : one I have 

 found abundantly in Bath. 



The next tribe consists of those which have an operculum, and 

 of those which breathe air only : this county has every one of these, 

 whilst of those which exist only in water, out of the nine we 

 want but three, two of which are not likely to be found ; whilst 

 the third is thought by many to be little more than a variety of 

 one which is to be had in multitudes from the Kennet and Avon 

 Canal. This brings us to the end of those Mollusks which have 

 heads, and a very few words will suffice for any remarks upon those 

 which have no heads at all : there are seventeen of them, they all 

 live in water : thirteen are found here, and there is no valid 

 reason why the others should not be discovered as time passes on. 



From the catalogue of shells used, we number no less than 128 

 species, out of which 87 have been identified as being Wiltshire 

 Shells, that is to say, you have at your disposal as to habitat, more 

 than two-thirds of a complete collection : add to these two thirds 

 those which could not possibly be discovered here from local im- 

 pediments, and those which do exist here unquestionably, but are 

 not as yet recorded, and the county may lay a very good claim 

 indeed to distinction as far as its present Land and Fresh Water 

 1 i.e. the plate which covers the mouth of the shell. 



