234 ANIMAL REPRODUCTIONS, 
method of forcing the fnail out for the purpofe of 
viewing and examining the wounds, which is, 
breaking a little of the fhel) behind with repeat- 
ed gentle ftrokes of a key or the handle of a 
knife: the fnail, irritated by the blows, appears 
in whatever degree of reproduction the head 
fhould be. To avoid ufelefs. repetition, I thall 
here obferve, that fuch expedients have prevailed 
whenever the {nail refufed to appear, and gave 
me an opportunity of feeing the cut if lately 
made, or, indeed, the rudiments and progrefs of 
the reproducing heads. When the portion is cut 
off, fome of that liquid, which in {nails fupplies 
the place of blood, efcapes : it foon ftems, becaufe 
the trunk immediately begins to corrugate and 
diminifh, fo as almoft to difappear ; and in its 
place is obferved a flight incavation, where no 
marks of the cut are vifible. ‘The fnails thus 
decapitated for the moft part fix to the veffels 
containing them: they conceal themfelves in 
their habitations, covering the mouth with their 
whitifh operculum, produced by the tenacious 
matter which exudes from the body, and there 
they remain motionlefs for many weeks, or even 
for complete months. 
When forced to come out, in thirty or forty 
days, the naked trunks of fome appear without — 
any marks of reproduction, but others, if the 
weather has been warm, exhibit a flefhy globule 
towards 
