EDIBLE SNAIL. 181 



close their apertures with a calcareous lid on the approach 

 of winter, during which they remain torpid till the spring. 



The same species are used as food during Lent in several 

 parts of Europe, for which purpose they are fattened in 

 large reservoirs strewed with herbs and flowers. Anciently 

 they formed a favourite dish with the luxurious Romans, 

 who fed them on bran and wine till they grew to such a size, 

 that, according to the exaggerated testimony of Yarro, each 

 shell would contain a quart. The temperance of the younger 

 Pliny will, therefore, be no longer a subject of admiration, 

 whose suppers consisted of a lettuce for each guest, three 

 snails, two eggs, a barley cake, sweet wine, and snow. 

 Eulvius Herpinus is said to have introduced this luxury, 

 shortly before the wars of Csesar and Pompey. 



Helices furnish even now an important article of food on 

 the shores of the Mediterranean, where they are boiled in 

 their shells, and served up with rice. They possess much of 

 the quality of oysters, being extremely nutritious ; hence the 

 use of them not unfrequently retards the fatal termination 

 of that less active form of consumption called a decline ; 

 and so long as a sufficient quantity can be obtained, many 

 patients appear convalescent, from the rapid recoverv of 

 their strength, owing to this nutritious diet. 



