42 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



give anything like a complete list of the species occurring in the country, I 

 shall mainly confine myself to the mention of such kinds as I have personally 

 met with in Cambridgeshire. A full account of the molluscous fauna of that 

 county — particularly of the fenland portion — would be highly interesting. 1 

 am not aware that any such exists, but I myself contemplate shortly publish- 

 ing a catalogue of all the species I know of as occurring in both the fens and 

 the higher parts of the county. If any conchoiogieal readers of the Young 

 Naturalist can assist me I shall be very glad to hear from them, and will 

 thankfully acknowledge their communications. Non-conchologists too will 

 greatly help me if they kindly forward parcels of shells or slugs found by 

 them in the county. I will gladly repay the expense of postage and, if 

 possible, make some suitable return. 



The search for land and freshwater shells, although to my mind inferior 

 in interest to the collection of marine kinds, yet has its charms. There is 

 one great advantage in being a student of terrestrial mollusca, and that is it 

 affords out-door occupation when most other natural history work is at a 

 standstill. A soaking wet day for instance will condemn an entomologist to 

 enforced idleness, but on such a day the conchologist rejoices, for he knows 

 that the rain will bring Helix nemoralis and others of its kindred out in 

 hundreds, and there is nothing like a wet day for collecting specimens of the 

 varieties of the wood snail. I was out entomologising one day last September 

 in the Cambridgeshire fens ; it was a very bright morning when I started. 

 Cabbage and green-veined white butterflies, small tortoiseshells, blues, small 

 heaths and meadow browns were disporting themselves in numbers in the 

 warm sunshine, but when it got past noon one of these thunder-storms so fre- 

 quent in the fenland came on, and the drenching rain soon suspended all 

 entomological operations, but the fluvial down-pour soon engaged me in 

 other work, for it brought Helix nemoralis out in such numbers that I was 

 very soon busily engaged picking up specimens of this pretty snail, and col- 

 lecting varieties regardless of both the rain and the lightning. In considerably 

 less than half-an-hour I had filled three large larvae tins, notwithstanding 

 that I discarded most individuals of the commonei forms. The pink kind 

 (Rubella ) were the most abundant, and of these I obtained quite a dozen 

 modifications of the bands. Specimens with the bands entirely wanting were 

 by far the most numerous, and next to them in abundance were those with 

 all five present. Individuals (000 : : and : : 3 : : ) with the bands nearly 

 obliterated were plentiful, and I obtained several with all the zones united as 

 well as others with the second and third and the fourth and fifth — 0 (2 3) 

 (4 5) — coalescing ; the first being absent. I also obtained some with the 

 first three, and the last two nearly coalescing. The other varieties I found 



