44 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



little muscles which stretch from one side to the 

 other. 



When he is moving, those muscles in front con- 

 tract first, making his body a little longer; then 

 those farther back, and so on to the very end. 

 You may see half a dozen waves of muscle at one 

 time, one behind the other, and all of them slowly 

 urging the little body onward. You will proba- 

 bly cease to think of the snail as slow or lazy, 

 and will be pleased to see how rapid and perfect 

 are the movements of the parts of this strange 

 foot. 



The snail loves a moist, warm climate. His 

 progress is too slow to make it safe for him to un- 

 dertake a long journey in the daytime, when the 

 sun is shining brightly, and so he does most of 

 his traveling at night, when there is no danger 

 of his being dried up en route. For you see he 

 cannot carry a canteen along with him, like the 

 camel, but must depend on local supplies of 

 moisture. 



For this reason he prefers the winter climate 

 of California to that of the summer, except in the 

 mountains, where snows lie deep for months at a 

 time. In such places, however, you do not often 

 find many snails, for the climate is too cold in 

 winter and too dry in summer to favor their rapid 



