32 Beautiful Shells. 
the Tortoise beat the Hare, illustrating the truth of 
the proverb, that ‘ slow and sure wins the race.” 
If you watch a Snail travelling with its house upon 
its back, it does not seem to make much way, and 
you are inclined to think that it will be long ere it 
reaches the new settlement to which it appears 
journeying with bag and baggage; but leave the 
spot for a while, and the chances are that on your 
return, the ‘‘ slow coach” will have got somewhere 

out of sight. Here is a lesson for boys and girls; 
whatever you take in hand, don’t be in a hurry, 
and if people say you are “slow,” think of the 
Snail, and keep on! 
This, then, is a shelled mollusk of the third 
class, called Gasteropoda, according to the system 
of the French naturalist Cuvier. It has a distinct 
head, which, like the hinder part of the body, 
which we may call a tail if we like, projects, when 
the creature is in motion, considerably from the 
