2 2 Shell Life 



the sea, which to the mass of Britons is not always 

 get-at-able : therefore we search slightly among the 

 trailing ivy in the back-garden and pick up a rather 

 shabby-looking shell. 



This is the portable house wherein is lodged the 

 common Garden Snail, and when the shell has been 

 washed by contact with the 

 dripping leaves after a heavy 

 summer shower, one may get 

 an idea of its true colours. It 

 has a yellowish ground, thickly 

 overlaid with spots and bands 

 of dark warm brown broken 

 by irregular lines of lighter 

 tint. The shell is packed with 



Shell of Garden Snail -y ~^ • ^^ p -it 



a solid jelly oi greenish hue — 

 the living creature that formed the hard shell by 

 excretion from its outer surfaces, but at present it is 

 without form, a mere jelly in a jelly-mould. 



Let us put this specimen into a saucer with a little 

 tepid water, and see what effect it will have upon 

 him. Here are just those conditions he likes best, — 

 warmth and moisture, — and he immediately begins 

 to emerge from his shell and assume a definite shape. 

 His body is elongated, with a flat base and a rounded 

 upper side, the front ending in a sort of head dis- 

 tinguished by two pairs of what children designate 

 "horns." These tentacles, instead of having the 

 character of horns, are exceedingly soft and mobile, 

 readily shortened to escape injury, or even completely 

 withdrawn into the head. The lower of these 

 appendages are short, and curved towards the ground ; 

 the upper ones are much longer and carry the eyes 



