its peculiar structure. This consists of an elastic appendage which can be used to close the aperture. If you break off the outer part of the last whorl, you will see a spoon-shaped, shelly plate, attached to the column of the spire by the elastic filament or spring. When the animal creeps out of its shell, this is thrust aside, and when it withdraws, it springs the door to: so we see the principle of having a simple mechanism to close the door when we have passed out of or into a room, was in practice long before man adopted it! The pupas may be abundantly found in damp moss everywhere, their brown, horny-looking shells being of an elegant shape, but looking as if the stuff had run short before the spire had been completed, so that it had suddenly come to a conclusion. Notwithstanding the apparent insignificance of land snails, they have a wonderful antiquity. Species of pupa have been found fossilised inside the trunks of ancient Carboniferous club-mosses. They are also abundant, together with fossil bulimi, in the early Tertiary strata of the Isle of Wight and elsewhere. Scarcely less ancient is the family of Helix, for they form beds in the Upper Eocene deposits. As far back as the period of the Norwich and Red Crags, the same species lived that are still existing in these latitudes. Thus, Helix hispida is a not uncommon fossil in the former deposit, and a comparison with modern forms shows that it has not altered in the meantime. An interesting circumstance occurs with regard to

an abundant species of fossil helix (H. labyrinthica) met with in the Eocene strata of the Isle of Wight. It is extinct in this country now, but it is still living in the United States: a singular piece of testimony, this, to the geological changes which have rendered it extinct in its parent country, but have driven it westerly before those events ensued which now separate the Old World from the New!

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE GREEN LANES.

ONE will deny that the flowering plants of our lanes and meadows form the central point in any country stroll taken for the purpose of studying natural history. To leave them out would be a greater omission than that of the character of Hamlet from Shakespeare's celebrated play. Even if we were inclined to neglect plants, we cannot do so and study other branches of natural science. The entomologist must know the leading species, seeing that on them many of the larvæ of the insect he seeks find their proper food. Our wild flowers are distributed everywhere, and are adapted to well nigh every condition of physical existence. They are the delight of childhood, the objects of investigation to mature science, and those of contemplation to the philosopher and poet. Take them out of existence, and we should lose the finest passages and references in the best writers of all ages and all countries.

But the difficulty is to know which to select in the short space we can devote to their consideration. The pretty Daisy "vermeil-tipped and white," abounds everywhere, and with its English look cheers the heart of many a far-off emigrant with its recollection. The grassy margins of the lanes are relieved by its pure white and yellow disks, and, over the hedge, the neighbouring meadows are a perfect sheet of white and yellow, owing to the abundance of this plant and the buttercups. The first-comer of the genus Ranunculus is the little Pile-wort (R. ficaria), whose star-shaped, shiny yellow blossoms, and glossy dark green leaves, tell us of the approaching summer. It is on these leaves that the microscopic botanist finds one of the most beautiful of diminutive fungi, in the dusty yellow "cluster-cups" which parasitically affect the plant. Succeeding the pile-wort, and taking its place in the meadows and in the green lanes, is the Bulbous Crowfoot (Ranunculus bulbosus). Notwithstanding the resemblance of one species of buttercup to another, you will have no difficulty in identifying this species, for the sepals of the calyx are always turned right back; and if this is not a sufficient guide, dig up a plant, and you will find a fleshy bulb-like swelling at the base of the stem which gives to the flower its specific name. By-and-by, as the summer advances, the study of the Ranunculacea will afford the young student some busy work. He will find species growing on the margins of tarns or pools with lance-shaped leaves and yellow flowers

(R. flammula), and others growing in the water, with leaves like those of the chamomile below and resembling those of the ivy above, the flower being a pure delicate white. This is the Aquatic Crowfoot (R. aquatilis). Already, in the early summer, he may find the Goldilocks (R. auricomus) in the shady places of the woods and hedges. It is a pretty plant, with small yellow flowers, and may be identified at once by the striking difference between the leaves at its base and those higher up the stem, which are very much divided or cleft in comparison. Later in the summer, the bulbous crowfoot will have decayed, but you will hardly have missed it, for its place has been gradually supplied by the Upright Crowfoot (R. acris) and the Creeping Crowfoot (R. repens), both of which, in their names, carry about them the means whereby the young botanist may distinguish them.

As March approaches its end, and April sets in, our hedge-banks begin to look quite cheerful and attractive. Foremost among the early comers, and almost claiming attention by its large, glossy green leaves, is the plant commonly known as "Lords and Ladies" (Arum maculatum, Fig. 171); other names for this plant are "Cuckoo Pint," "Wake Robin," &c., It is singular how the cuckoo has given its name to several early summer flowers that usually flower about the time of its appearance, such as the Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis), &c., and even to the insect enveloped in froth called "cuckoo-spit." The