They generally congregate in some numbers, and appear to have a predilection for certain spots. From an hybernaculum near the village he had that morning taken a gallon and a half of them, but this was very unusual; his “takings” as a rule did not exceed a gallon per day. Ash stumps, or crannies at the base of ash-trees, are very favourite haunts. They seldom hybernate under oaks, and although old walls are favourite places in summer, whence they probably owe their name of “wall-fish,” they seldom hybernate in them. Our “wall fisherman” carried an iron rod about 2 feet long, slightly crooked at one end for probing likely nooks and corners. _H. aspersa_ is quite the most nearly domesticated of the snail tribe. It loves the haunts of man, and is seldom found in any numbers in places remote from villages and roadsides. A conchologist should never miss an opportunity of examining the bag of a wall-fish collector. Occasionally rare varieties--_scalariforme_ for instance--may be secured in this way. I asked my friend to allow me to inspect his “catch,” and he very obligingly turned out the contents of his creel. I found nothing better than three or four examples of the variety _exalbida_, which is greenish-white. It is, however, widely distributed in the southern counties. It is stated by Forbes and Hanley (“Hist. Brit. Moll.,” vol. iv., p. 46), that “owing to its being an article of food in some countries, or else a supposed remedy for pulmonary affections, _H. aspersa_ has been transported and distributed by the agency of man to all parts of the world. It is especially abundant in the neighbourhood of gardens.” In 1840, according to Turton, _H. aspersa_ was sold in Covent Garden and elsewhere as a cure for diseases of the chest, and was sent to the United States as a delicacy. “The glassmen at Newcastle once a year have a snail feast; they generally collect the snails themselves in the fields and hedges the Sunday before the feast day.” This feast is, we believe, now given up. * * * * * DORMANT LIFE.--The conditions under which vital activity may become dormant obtained a curious illustration in the instance of a beetle which was taken alive out of the wood of a desk which had been in the office of the London Guildhall for twenty years. The wood was deal from the Baltic, the beetle was the _Buprestis splendens_. It was alive and in beautiful colour. The observation was confirmed by Sir Joseph Banks. The description is given by Mr. Thos. Wrenham in the tenth volume of _Transactions of Linnæan Society_, 1810. * * * * *