Our British Snails 21 



A snail may possess over twenty thousand tiny 

 flinty teeth set on a ribbon so as to make a 

 mowing-machine for the vegetable matter on 

 which it feeds. With its aid also you might study 

 the life-history of a mollusc from the egg onwards, 

 and be able to determine by minute anatomical 

 points whether two molluscs were of the same 

 species or not — a matter in which the shape or 

 appearance of the shell is not always a safe guide. 



Here, then, is a new hobby for some of my 

 readers, or, at any rate, a fresh source of interest 

 when they are in the country. If any collector 

 lives near you, I am sure he or she would be 

 delighted to have your company during an 

 expedition, and you would learn more by sight 

 and hearing than by reading. If, however, 

 you must fall back upon a book, get The Collector's 

 Manual by L. E. Adams, published by Taylor 

 Bros., Leeds. This is invaluable both to the 

 beginner and to the owner of a good collection. 



From this I borrow by leave the plate on 

 p. 22, which will enable the beginner to 

 understand from the first certain names of 

 parts of the shell or the body of the bivalve, 

 univalve, or slug which otherwise might not be 

 clear. The " muscular scars " are indents in the 

 shell which mark where the muscles were fixed 

 whose function was to bring close together the 

 two valves of the shell when it has need to exclude 

 air or enemies. 



