II HOMING AND FINDING FOOD 35 



were placed in a small and ill-provided garden. The stronger 

 of the two soon disappeared over the wall into the next garden, 

 which was well furnished with food. It was concluded that the 

 snail had deserted its weakly mate, but after twenty-four hours 

 it returned, and apparently communicated the results of its ex- 

 pedition, for after a short time both started off along the same 

 track, and disappeared over the wall. According to Dr. W. H. 

 Dall,^ a young girl who possessed a remarkable jDower over ani- 

 mals succeeded in training a snail (^H. alholahris^ to come out 

 of its lurking-place at her call. If placed in a room, it would 

 shrink into its shell at the sound of any other voice, but it 

 would always start off in the direction of hers. 



Snails and slugs possess to a considerable extent the faculty 

 of 'homing,' or returning to the same hiding-place day after 

 day, after their night excursions in search of food. Mr. C. Ash- 

 ford once marked with a dab of white paint seven Helix aspersa 

 found lurking under a broken flagstone ; at 10 p.m. the same 

 evening three had disappeared on the forage ; the next morning 

 all were 'at home.' The following night at 10 p.m. five were 

 gone out, two being discovered with some difficulty ' in a small 

 jungle ' six feet away ; the next morning six out of the seven 

 were safely beneath the flagstone. According to the same 

 authority. Helix aspersa will find its way across a cinder-path 

 (which it specially detests) to get to its favourite food, and will 

 return by the same way to its old quarters, although it could 

 easily have found new lodgings nearer the food-supply. A 

 snail has been observed to occupy a hole in the brick wall of a 

 kitchen-garden about four feet from the ground. Leaning 

 against the wall, and immediately under the hole, was a piece 

 of wood, the lower end of which rested in a bed of herbs. For 

 months the snail employed this ladder between its food and its 

 home, coming down as soon as it was dark, c^nd retiring to rest 

 during the day. 



In greenhouses a slug will forage night after night — as gar- 

 deners know to their cost — over the same beat, and will always 

 return to the same hiding-place. Limax flavus has been noticed 

 crawling with great regularity to a sink from a hole near the 

 water-pipe, and keeping to a well-marked circular track. In all 

 probability the scent, either of the desired object of food, or of 



1 Amer. Nat. xv. 1881, p. 976. 



