VII 



TASTE IN SNAILS 



179 



appear to be keenly sensitive to touch, and this is particularly 

 the case with the front or tentacular pair of arms, which seem 



r. 



FiG. 84. — Idalia Leachil A. and H., British seas; br, branchiae. (After 



Alder and Hancock.) 



to be employed in an especial degree for exploration and inves- 

 tigation of strange objects. 



Taste. — The sense of taste is no doubt present, to a greater 

 or less extent, in all the head-bearing Mollusca. In many of 

 these a special nerve or nerves has been discovered in the 

 pharynx, connecting with the cerebral 

 ganglion; this no doubt indicates the 

 seat of the faculty of taste. The Mol- 

 lusca vary greatly in their likings for 

 different kinds of food. Some seem 

 to prefer decaying and highly odorifer- sJi- 

 ous animal matter (^Buccimim^ Nassa)^ 

 others apparently confine themselves 

 to fresh meat (^Purpura, Natica^ Testa- 

 tfeZ/a), others again, although naturally 'Pig.^o. — Lima squamosai.?im., 



, • • -n j^ r n ^ Naples, showinor tentacular 



vegetarian, will not refuse flesh on lobes of mantle (?,0; «, anus; 



occasion QLimax^ Helix). od.»i, adductor muscle ;6r,/>r, 



T\/r \\T * /^ • 1 1 1 branchiae; /, foot; .sA, shell. 



Mr. W. A. Gain 1 has made some 

 interesting experiments on the taste of British land Mollusca, 

 as evidenced by the acceptance or rejection of various kinds of 

 food. He kept twelve species of Ario7i and Ijimax^ and eight spe- 

 cies of Helix in captivity for many months, and tried them with 

 no less than 197 different kinds of food, cannibalism included. 



1 Journ. of Conch, vi. p. 349 ff. 



hr f 



