Other Invertebrate-Animal Study 461 



a rubber band should be placed over the top of the jar. A tumbler in- 

 verted over a dish, on which is a leaf or two, makes a good observa- 

 tion cage to pass around the room for closer examination. An empty shell 

 should be at hand, which may be opened and examined. 



Observations i. Where do you find snails? Why do they like to 

 live in such places? 



2. How does a snail walk? Describe its "foot." How can it move 

 with only one foot? Describe how it climbs the side of the glass jar. 

 How does it cling? 



3. What sort of a track does a snail leave behind it? What is the use 

 of this mucus? 



4. Where are the snail's eyes? Why is this arrangement convenient? 

 If we touch one of the eyes w r hat happens? What advantage is this to 

 the snail? Can it pull in one eye and leave the other out? 



5. Look below the eyes for a pair of feelers. What happens to these 

 if you touch them? 



6. What is the use of its shell to a snail? What does the snail do if 

 startled? If attacked? When a snail is withdrawn into its shell can you 

 see any part of the body ? Is the shell attached to the middle of the foot ? 

 How did the shell grow on the snail's back? How many spiral turns are 

 there in the full-grown shell ? Are there as many in the shell of a young 

 snail? Can you see the little ridges on the shell? Do you think that 

 these show the way the shell grew? 



7 . Can you find the opening through which the snail draws its breath ? 

 Where is this opening? Describe its action. 



8. Put the snail in a dry place for two or three days, and see what 

 happens. Do you think this is for the purpose of keeping in moisture? 

 What does the snail do during the winter? 



9. Place a snail on its back and see how it rights itself. Describe the 

 way it eats. Can you see the horny upper jaw? Can you see the rasping 

 tongue? What do snails live on? 



10. Do you know how the snail eggs look and where they are laid? 

 How large is the shell of the smallest garden snail you ever saw? How 

 many spiral turns were there in it? Open an empty snail shell and see 

 how the spirals widened as the snail grew. Do you think the shell grew 

 by layers added to the lip? 



ir. Do all snails have shells? Describe all the kinds of snails you 

 know. What people consider snails a table delicacy? 



TO A SNAIL 



Little Diogenes bearing your tub, whither away so gay, 

 With your eyes on stalks, and a foot that walks, tell me this I pray! 

 Is it an honest snail you seek that makes you go so slow, 



And over the edges of all things peek? Have you found him, I want to know; 

 Or do you go slow because you knew, your house is near and tight / 

 And there is no hurry and surely no worry lest you stay out late at night. 



