92 PULMONIFERA.—HELICIDA. 
margin, when the animal is full grown, is turned 
outwards. 
Mr. Gray, in his “ Land and Fresh-water Shells 
of the British Islands,” has enumerated twenty-six 
species of this genus as natives of this country and 
its adjacent isles. By far the finest of these is the 
Edible Snail (Helix pomatia), which inhabits woods 
and hedges in chalk districts, in the southern and 
midland counties of England. The shell of this 
fine species attains a diameter of two inches, and a 
height of the same; the last whorl is very large 
and globose, and all are strongly striated across 
with close-set lines; the colour is commonly pale 
brown, with four spiral bands of dark brown; the 
interior is tinged with violet. 
The animal is ofa pale greyish-brown, the body 
studded with warts, the tentacles are long, the foot 
dilated, marked with impressed lines, forming a 
network. 
Among ourselves these animals are occasionally 
eaten, and, when pro- 
perly cooked, are said 
to be not unpleasant 
to the taste. Lister 
tells us how they 
were dressed in his 
\ time. “They are 
) boiled in spring 
water, and when sea- 
soned with oil, salt, 
and pepper, make a 
Bete eRe dainty dish.” But 
on the Continent, 
as I have before intimated, snails have been from 
the earliest times an admired luxury. “ The 
