The TOUHC HATUEMIST: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 137. JUNE 24th, 1882. Vol. 3. 



HELIX NEMORALIS. 



Plate 8. 



^PHIS most beautiful and abundant 

 -L shell appears to be rather a puzz- 

 ling one to many of our correspondents 

 who are just beginning with concho- 

 logy. Its forms are so various, the 

 ground colour differing greatly, and the 

 markings being even more variable,there 

 is no wonder that beginners get lost 

 among the protean forms. To answer 

 a number of enquiries at once, we have 

 had a plate prepared of some of the 

 commoner forms the shell assumes. 

 We thought it was no use figuring the 

 rarer varieties as our present object is 

 merely to help the beginner, and our 

 remarks must refer chielly to those 

 forms that are likely to fall in the way 

 of the young collector. Let us first 

 premise that the ordinary varieties of 

 the shell have not been honoured with 

 separate names. To have named every 

 variety would have hindered instead of 

 helped. Thus, tlien, whether the shell be 

 yellow, pink, brown, or any other of the 

 many hues it assumes, these colours are 

 all considered to belong to the type of 

 the shell. The want of bands or their 



presence is e([ually unimportant. Some 

 are entirely without them; others have 

 one, two, or even six or seven of them, 

 but these are all considered to belong 

 to the type, or the variety as it may be. 

 The points that appear to have been 

 taken into consideration in naming 

 varieties have been the size of the shell 

 and the colour of the lip. Now, as 

 both these depend entirely upon the 

 shell being mature, it is necessary for 

 the young conchologist to know when 

 a shell reaches its full growth. With 

 Nemoralis this is very easily ascer- 

 tained. All shells of this form grow 

 by additions to the outer edge of 

 the whorl. When first formed the new 

 shell appears horny, not calcareous, 

 and is then transparent, comparatively 

 soft, and without markings. By 

 layers of calcareous matter under- 

 neath this horny substance, the shell 

 gradually becomes more solid, and ac- 

 quires the usual markings. \\ hen it 

 reaches maturity, the edge of this last 

 whorl is slightly turned outwards, 

 forming what is calleil a lip ; and 

 along the edge of the lip, generally on 

 both sides of it, is a band of colour. 



