238 



CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 



A LINK IN THE CHAIN. — VITUINA. — COMMON SNAIL. THE PRIZE. WIN- 

 TER COVERING.— MEDICINE AND FOOD. — SPECIES. THE PET SNAIL. — 



ZONITES. 



HELICIDJE. 

 VITRTNA, HELIX, ZONARIA. 

 Befoue speaking of those garden pests^ commonly known 

 as Snails, we must introduce a pretty little animal, which 

 seems to come very naturally between them and the Tesia- 

 cella slug. While the true snails can withdraw their whole 

 bodies within the " house " which they carry on their backs, 

 and the Testacella carries only a single tile on the back of 

 his foot, our little 



'^YYKm^^elliicida has a very simple, transparent, shining, 

 glassy, greenish shell, capable of sheltering part of the body, 

 when contracted, but not the whole. It has a flattened spire, 

 of few whorls, and a large aperture, stretched in front so as 

 to make the general shape rather oval. The animal is long 



