DISPERSAL BY MAN. 203 



The use of some land molluscs for food and for medi- 

 cinal purposes has doubtless conduced to their dissemina- 

 tion. Thus, for instance, Bulimus [P lacostyliis) edwards- 

 iamis, an outlier of the B. fibratus group, is believed 

 by Mr. Layard to have been introduced into New Cale- 

 donia from the Loyalty Islands during the native wars, 

 the animal having been used as food by the Loyalty 

 Islanders and probably carried over by them when they 

 landed to"fight the New Caledonians. European kinds, 

 as everyone knows, constitute an important part in the 

 live stock of many ships, between seven and eight thou- 

 sand of Helix aspersa, as Tate states, for instance, form- 

 ing part of the provisions of a ship leaving the port of 

 Bordeaux for a long voyage.^ As is well known, also, 

 the creatures are sometimes exported to distant countries 

 as delicacies, and they travel well, according to Gray, in 

 old casks, fixing themselves on one another round the 

 circumference and leaving a vacant space in the centre.- 

 As stated by Dr. Binney, the larger European species, 

 and particularly Helix aspersa, are sometimes im- 

 ported into the United States, for use as food by 

 foreign residents.^ Now and then, doubtless, from some 

 cause or other, a few manage to escape near sea- 

 ports, or after arriving at their destinations further 

 inland, and many colonies have almost certainly been 

 established in this way. Portuguese sailors, with whom 



* R. Tate, " Land and Fresh-water Mollusks," (1866), p. 116. 



* Gray's "Turton," 1857, p. 105. 



3 A. Binney, "Terrestrial air-breathing Mollusks," i. (1851), 

 p. 151. 



