THE lOUNG NATUKALIST. 



867 



s time it was not a fine day, so we were 

 ne out of our view and had to push on. 

 le first time I paid a visit to this part of 

 3 country, and stood on the top of the hill, 

 bought, as a matter of course, we should 

 down the other side. But there is no 

 ther side" to it, for the top is a regular 

 )le land and the level country stretches 

 ay for miles, till it reaches another hill 

 1 perceptable in the distance. What 

 used this peculiar feature I leave for the 

 S)logists to find out, so we will resume the 

 tread of the story as the novelists say. 

 ^sll, we pushed open a gate and entered a 

 rn-field, where the corn, having been cut, 

 3S piled up in sheaves here and there. 

 Mongst the stubble crawled Helix virgata, 

 caper ata, Litnax agrestes, and L. maxi- 

 s. The spreading caucalis {Caucalis in- 

 also grew here, but had gone to seed, 

 we took a few seeds as they are good ob- 

 ts for the microscope. On the other side 

 :he cornfield was the village of curious 

 houses, built of grey limestone and 

 .tched. We had now got into a fine 

 mtry for shells, viz. : the limestone walls 

 it surround the fields and gardens, and 

 zing obtained the necessary permission, 

 set to work. On lifting up the topmost 

 «se slabs of the walls we found Helix pul- 

 ilia and the var, eostata, H, rupestris^ H. 

 icida, Pupa, marginata, and Claiisilia 

 wsa in abundance. We next passed 

 ough the village and examined some 

 ler walls, taking Fv^JO' marginata, var. 

 inay a rare and good variety, and Helix 

 ^escens. After the village was passed and 

 emerged into the open country, the 

 bitat of Helix concinna was reached, 

 ey are found at the foot of grass and 

 ler plants, especially in damp places. We 

 . plenty, among which were several of 

 I : var. albida, and also Siiccinea putris, 

 elegans, Zonites cellarius, Arion ater, and 

 Dther species, which is either Limax 

 , lates or Tnarginata^ I think it is the former. 



We next made our way towards Cleve 

 Church, and passing through the church- 

 yard noticed a fine old yew tree, and the 

 weather-beaten gravestones, with the fossils 

 sticking out of them where the stone was 

 worn away by frost and rain, and making 

 our way down another lane, called Broady 

 Lane, till we came to the hillside again. 

 Here the grass and banks were covered 

 pretty thickly with Helix virgata and cape- 

 rata, with an occasional H. ericetormi. 

 This latter shell is like virgata in colour, 

 but is flat instead of conical, slightly larger 

 in size and the umbilicus very wide and 

 deep. Virgata and caperaia were also very 

 abundant down Broady lane, and we took 

 several pairs in copula. Our time being 

 limited we had to make our way towards 

 the mill again, which we did in a round- 

 about direction, and took another or 

 two of the last mentioned species on our 

 way. No other incident occurred till we 

 reached the " Bell," where we stayed and 

 refreshed ourselves while a passing storm 

 came on. When it had abated a little, we 

 started for the railway station, and on our 

 way saw something of mollusc life. The 

 heavy rain had " brought out " Helix nemo- 

 rails from their concealment under the 

 hedges by hundreds, and all along the road 

 yon could hardly walk without smashing 

 some. We took some prettily marked vari- 

 ations of the type, and also the vars. Iwrten- 

 sis, hylrida, and minor in smaller quantities. 

 Reaching the railway station in good time 

 we found an empty carriage which our 

 party just managed to fill comfortably, and 

 journeyed on towards " Old Brum," whiling 

 away the time by telling anecdotes and 

 jokes. The day had not been exactly lovehfy 

 except for snails, which seem to like the 

 wet ; but I think none of us were dissatisfied 

 with our half-day's out in the rain, in fact 

 more than one made up his mind to spend 

 some more time there on the earliest 

 opportunity. 



