126 
HELICIDiE. 
the whole shell, making it brown, or even nearly 
black. Also sometimes in shape, and more or less in 
the elevation and depression of the spire, and in the 
size of the umbilicus. From its abundance, it is very 
liable to the usual distortions ; thus some are found 
with the whorls reversed, or more commonly pro- 
duced out of their usual course. It was a specimen 
of this monstrosity that was called Helix elegans by 
Brown, and H. disjuncta by Turton. | 
Mr. Alder says that a very small variety of this | 
shell is found on the coast of North Devon, which is 
probably the Helix maritima of Draparnaud. I have 
not been able to see this variety. It is also referred 
to by J effreys {Linn. Trans, xiii. 335.) ; but the con- 
tinental authors do not mix them together. | 
In the autumn these shells are often suddenly ob- j| 
served in such great numbers as to give rise to the 
popular notion of their having fallen from the clouds; | 
and in very hot weather the young both of this spe- ! 
cies and the H. pisana may be found in clusters 
adhering to the stalks of various plants, with the | 
aperture closed by a thin pellicle {epiphragm\ except jj 
where it is in contact with the plant. 
This shell is very hardy, and appears nearly in- 
sensible to cold, as it does not hybernate even when 
the ground is covered with snow. 
There has been considerable discussion respecting 
the name of this shell ; but there can be no doubt 
Da Costa’s name, also used by Montagu, has the 
priority. Draparnaud’s name has been preferred 
because it was shortly characterised by him in his 
Tableau” (1801) printed one year before Montagu ; 
