94 On the Land and Fresh-water Shells of Wilts. 



Conchology is concerned. This, it seems to me, will be a good 

 place to record ray thankfulness for the help which has been so cheer- 

 fully tendered towards my paper by Mr. Cunnington of Devizes, 

 from whom nearly every one of the habitats in this part of the 

 county came, also by James Hussey, Esq., and Dr. Blackmore, both 

 of Salisbury, who kindly sent me a list of shells they had discovered 

 in their neighbourhood, and whose authority is to be taken for all 

 the Sarum localities : had it not been for their assistance most 

 assuredly no satisfactory list could have been drawn up. 



It may be well here perhaps to notice a few of our rarer 

 Mollusks, which have been found in this part of England, with a 

 remark or two upon some singularities with regard to them. 



Bulimus Montanus is to be found sparingly here, it is called by 

 Dr. Gray in his edition of 1857, " The Wilts Twist Shell," but 

 there is no reason assigned for the name of the county being 

 attached to it, at all events the inhabitants of Wilts may consider 

 it a compliment to them, as the learned doctor nowhere else gives 

 a similar distinction to any county. Its habits are most unusual 

 when contrasted with other species : it hibernates by burrowing 

 into the ground at the roots of beech trees, it leaves its winter 

 quarters in March, ascends the favored tree, (and by the by it- 

 chooses certain beech trees in preference to others,) it enjoys itself 

 at the top of the trees from March to August, and then descends 

 to sleep for the remaining half year. The 12th of August will 

 always be a noted daj^ to me as that on which, through the advice 

 of a friend, I went to some woods and found the beech trees well 

 stocked with equal quantities of B. Montanus, B. obscurus, Clausilia 

 laminata, and Helix lapicida. If any one should ever find at the 

 root of a tree a dead shell, he may be almost certain to obtain 

 living specimens by visiting the spot in the months we have 

 named. 



Helix Pomatia is to be found here. Dr. Gray rather singularly 

 at p. 114, speaking of these shells, asserts that "they have been 

 said to be found as far north as Devizes in Wiltshire, and in Gloster- 

 shire ; " if he were here he might obtain some from the neighbour- 

 hood. This shell is the largest of the genus we have, and by some 



