184 HELICID^. 



" To grass, or leaf, or fruit, or wall, 

 The Snail sticks close, nor fears to fall, 

 As if he grew there, house and all 



Together : 



' ' Within that house secure he hides, 

 Wlien danger imminent betides 

 Of storm, or other harm besides 



Of weather, 



" Give but his horns the slightest touch. 

 His self-collecting power is such 

 He shrinks into his house with much 



Displeasure, 



" Wliere'er he -dwells, he dwells alone ; 

 Except himself has chattels none. 

 Well satisfied to be his own 



Whole treasure, 



" Thus, hermit-like, his life he leads, 

 Nor partner of his banquet needs, 

 And, if he meets one, only feeds 



The faster, 



" Who seeks him must be worse than blind, 

 (He and his house are so combined,) 

 If, finding it, he fails to find 



Its master." 



This common species received from Pennant in 1766 

 the appropriate name of Helix hortensis ; bnt in con- 

 sequence of that name having been applied by Miiller, 

 although nearly eight years afterwards, to a different 

 species or a supposed species, the present name has been 

 adopted by nearly all conch olo gists. The H. grisea of 

 Linne, to which this species has been referred by some 

 authors, is stated to inhabit Sweden, which is not the 

 case with H. aspersa. 



The H, aperta of Born can hardly be considered a 

 British shell, — the sole ground for supposing it to be a 

 native of this country being the discovery by the late 

 Professor E. Forbes in 1839 of a dead specimen in a 



