19G 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. ], 1S66. 



179), literally the size of a small Somerset cider apple, 

 not unlike one, and, at least, as eatable. The 

 Romans, indeed, were so very partial to this delicacy 

 of the season, that, with them, it was an object of 

 cultivation, and as reasonably so as the oyster with 

 us, or the sea slug with the Chinese. What, in fact, 

 are those periwinkles which certain inhabitants of 

 Whitechapel are at this moment eating with a pin ? 

 Only another class of the same order, and, mayhap, 

 not so well fed on the fat and sap of nature. We 

 need not be surprised, therefore, if some nations 

 still show a peculiar relish for snails. During Lent 

 they are used as food in many parts of Catholic 

 Europe. A writer, passing through the market of 

 Rome during the month of March, says he saw 

 things exposed for sale which we should hardly 

 suppose human creatures would choose voluntarily 

 for food. "There were baskets of frogs and shell- 

 snails. These were crawling about and pushed 

 back by the boys." 



Likewise in the new world, at Monte Video, Mr. 

 Webster ("Voyage of the Chanticleer") informs 

 us that " large quantities of snails are sold in the 

 market and used for making soup." The distinc- 

 tions of food lawful and unlawful for the Jews are 

 well understood, ever since the vision of St. Peter, 

 to have had only in view objects peculiar to the 

 Jewish nation; and by Lev. xi. 30, snails, in 

 common with some other vermin, were forbidden to 

 the Jews. Man is not the only creature that feeds 

 on snails. Birds do so ; and the common eel feeds 

 on snails as well as on worms— nay, at night will 

 quit its watery element and wander in search of 

 them along meadows. A well-known naturalist 

 at Weymouth (Mr. Thompson) lately wrote to me 

 that he rather fancied the profusion of small shell 

 snails consumed by the sheep on its green sea pas- 

 tures had something to do with the fine flavour of 

 the Portland mutton. Mr. Thompson's authority 

 is important. As a sportsman he has made it his 

 study to distinguish the flavour of all flesh that 

 falls a prey to his gun. The vast quantities, in fact, 

 of gluten which those creeping dainties of old 

 contain, render them of well-known value as a 

 remedy in pulmonary consumption, and "snail's 

 milk" is an old wife's secret of great repute, though 

 generally administered in secret, through dread of 

 ridicule. 



We figure this great Pomatia. It will be seen 

 (figs. 178, 179) that the stripes passing lengthwise 

 are crossed by very minute spiral stripes, not strong 

 enough to mark it like network. It is only found in 

 the South of England, under hedges, in woods, and 

 on chalky soil ; which.localization is accounted for by 

 the fact of its not being indigenous, but introduced 

 so recently as the middle of the sixteenth century 

 by Mr. Howard, at Albury, Surrey, whence it in- 

 creased and spread itself over most of the southern 

 counties, although some attribute its introduction 



into England to Sir Kenelm Digby for the medical 

 purposes above alluded to. 



Although perhaps H. pomatia is the only thing 

 in snails anywise tempting, although it was a fa- 

 vourite food of the luxurious Romans, and is still 

 consumed as a rarity in many parts of the world, yet 

 the common spotted snail, H. aspersa, is also highly 

 enough esteemed to be thought worthy of culture. 

 I have the authority of my friend Mr. E. J. Lowe 

 for saying that large quantities have been exported 

 alive in barrels to America, and successfully propa- 

 gated in the United States (the creatures being each 

 bisexual), whilst great numbers are conveyed to the 

 London markets for the cure of chest diseases. 

 This snail enlarges to its greatest dimensions in 

 Algiers. And, by the way, the ratio of spiral de- 

 velopment of its subglobose shell has been identified 

 by Professor Goodsir (the friend and companion of 

 the lamented Edward Eorbcs) with the true loga- 

 rithmic curve. 



Notwithstanding the destructiveness of H. as- 

 persa (figs. 17 i, 175), it is only fair to state that if, and 

 so long as, it can get primroses {Primula vulgaris), 

 nettles, elder, or wild celery to devour, it will not 

 trouble anything else. The surface of its shell 

 is rough and apparently strong, yet it is, in reality, 

 thin and brittle, a circumstance which gives every 

 advantage to the song or stone thrush (Merula 

 vulgaris) in knocking it against a selected stone in 

 the gravel walk, so frequently found surrounded by 

 the fragments of shell, whence the dainty songster 

 has pecked its " tit-bits." H. aspersa deposits its 

 eggs, Chatereaux says, 100 to 110 at a time, in 

 holes at the roots of grass and trees, from May to 

 October. These eggs are from 15 to 30 days in 

 hatching, and the young are 13 months before being 

 fully grown. 



Fig. ISO. Garden Snail (//. hortensis). 



Of the three leading common shells already men- 

 tioned (omitting pomatia), H. nemoralis or arbus- 

 torum (figs. 176, 177), although it locates in woods, 

 is possibly the more universally diffused, for these 

 reasons, — that //. aspersa dislikes argillaceous 

 (clayey) soils, and H. hortensis (fig. ISO) prefers 

 them. The shell of the wood snail is subject to 

 immense variation in its colours and markings. 

 Indeed, I am not quite sure whether I shall not be 

 denounced as an innovator for not distinguishing 

 sufficiently betwixt the more general II. nemoralis 

 (fig. 176) and the more local II. arbustorum (fig. 

 177). Nemoralis is the one name given to both by Lin- 

 naeus. But I think we shall be obliged to allow that, 

 whilst nemoralis is the more full-bellied (venfricose), 



