82 CYPRyEA. 



cessities. It is supposed that, during the operation 

 of perfecting his first receptacle, he himself in- 

 creases in dimensions, till it be with difficulty that 

 he is contained within it : when this is the case, 

 he squeezes himself through the narrow aperture, 

 perhaps with considerable pain, as the whole 

 cavity of the shell was insufficient for his ease; 

 and committing his unprotected body to the briny 

 element, is, doubtless, agreeably irritated, till his 

 secreting powers are enough awakened to lay the 

 foundation of a new testaceous covering. These 

 circumstances are rendered still more extraor- 

 dinary, by observations which may be made upon 

 the genus, very much at variance with them. Had 

 they not, indeed, been announced as from ocular 

 demonstration, they might be suspected of having 

 originated in some accidental occurrence, or ima- 

 ginary habit. 



In the first place, analogy concludes against any 

 such wandering propensity ; for it is not even sur- 

 mised that the congeners of the animal possess it ; 

 and it is difficult to conceive why this Limax alone 

 should grow disproportionably, after the comple- 

 tion of his first shell. We find, in general, that 



