A PLAIN AND EASY ACCOUNT OF THE LAND AND FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS OF GREAT BRITAIN; CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS, FIGURES, AND A FAMILIAR ACCOUNT BY RALPH TATE, F.G.S., F.A.S.L., EX-SECRETARY AND HONORARY CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE BELFAST LONDON: ROBERT HARDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY, W. PREFACE. S LUGS and Snails! What interest can there be in such slimy, crawling things, from which we turn away in disgust? Yet these humble creatures are far from uninteresting to those who devote a little leisure to their examination. Many of our leading Naturalists acquired a taste for the pursuits of natural history, when but youths, in collecting and studying them. We are only familiar with the common species of Snails, and the natural history of the majority of them is imperfectly known to us. There is here, then, a field of research open to lovers of nature. In order to render this little volume instructive and interesting, as well to the general reader as to the young student, a familiar account has been given of the habits of each well-known species of our Land and Fluviatile Mollusca; and whilst the scientific character of the work has been uniformly sustained, all unnecessary complexities have been carefully avoided. The classification adopted is that which is employed by modern Zoologists. The specific terms are those that have been long familiar to home Naturalists. A few changes, however, have been introduced, consisting in the restoration of the older and equally well-known names. The generic name Helicella is substituted for that of Zonites, the latter name having been generally, but erroneously, used in place of the former. R. T. |