The British Isles support a relatively diverse land-snail fauna consisting of 99 species belonging to 27 families and 61 genera. The purpose of this simple laminated fold-out guide is to provide high-quality images of this fauna, enabling convenient comparisons to be made between similar species, leading to quick, and hopefully secure, identifications. This revised edition includes additional images and a new hothouse alien record (Allopeas gracile).

Most species can be identified from their shells, although some, such as members of the Succineidae (amber snails), can only be reliably separated on the basis of anatomical information, especially features of the reproductive system. Several excellent publications on British land snails already exist, which provide more detailed information on species identification. An Illustrated Guide to the Land Snails of the British Isles provides a comprehensive set of images of the shells of all British and Irish land snails, including many of living specimens. In addition to snails that occupy the full range of outside habitats from woodland to gardens, we have also included illustrations of 12 species that survive only in artificial habitats such as greenhouses and hothouses. Slugs are excluded and will be covered elsewhere.