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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



merciless "hobs" of the other soldiers ground 

 the fragile shells into the prairie sod and 

 into the dust of their fossilized univalve and 

 bivalve relatives. 



We read about snails of various countries 

 forming an important article of diet, and of 

 the peculiar habits of some species, but un- 

 fortunately it is not practicable for all of us 

 to see them in their native surroundings, or 

 to enjoy snail salad. For centuries Eu- 

 ropeans have considered certain forms 

 (Helix) a delicacy when properly prepared, 

 and a giant snail (Strophocheilus ovatus) 

 from southeastern Brazil, which has a shell 

 about six inches in length, commands a place 

 in the markets of Eio de Janeiro. Some of 

 the forests of Africa afford species of Acha- 

 tina that have shells ten inches long and live 

 in trees. These giant forms rarely descend 

 to the ground except to deposit their eggs. 



As I had never before seen "weeds blos- 

 soming snails," my curiosity and desire for 

 first-hand knowledge led me to make such 

 observations as conditions and opportunities 

 would permit. Through specimens submitted 

 to the American Museum of Natural History, 

 these snails were identified as belonging to 

 the species BuUmulus dcalbat us ^ay, and to 

 the varieties mooreanus and patriarcha. It 

 is believed by many that this species is noc- 

 turnal in its habits, because it rarely is active 

 between eight o'clock in the morning and 

 sunset, unless cloudy weather prevails. My 

 observations, however, lead me to believe 

 that moisture, rather than darkness, lures 

 the mollusk from its shell; for immediately 

 after a hard shower I found that none were 

 cemented to the weeds, rocks, or other ob- 

 jects, but all that I saw were crawling on 

 the ground. 



Prompted by these observations, I im- 

 mersed three living specimens in a cup of 

 water, and one of these emerged from the 



shell in just six minutes. I then punctured 

 the epiphragm of one of the other two and 

 placed all three specimens in a dry cup in 

 my locker. The next morning the one that 

 had emerged while immersed had escaped, 

 but neither of the other two had emerged. 

 Before noon, however, these two "poked their 

 horns out" to see what was going on in the 

 outside world, but, evidently disgusted with 

 the view, they soon retreated into their shells 

 and sealed the entrances. In the afternoon, 

 six other specimens which had been in my 

 locker several days without removing their 

 epiphragms, emerged and, without much 

 crawling about, cemented themselves to the 

 sides of the till, to my shaving box, and to 

 other articles in the locker. I think that the 

 activity of the snails may be accounted for 

 by the humidity of the atmosphere, which 

 really is great when the sun shines just after 

 an autumnal shower, for the clothes in my 

 locker were damp the day after the rain. 



Two specimens, each having a large hole 

 knocked in the dorsal side of the shell just 

 behind the animal's body, came out through 

 the broken place and crawled about, but died 

 within a few hours without having attempted 

 to form an epiphragm or to repair the break 

 in the shell. This experiment was performed 

 about half -past nine in the forenoon; by 

 four o'clock both snails were dead and con- 

 siderably dried. 



For some time after our arrival at Camp 

 BoAAie I had no time for photographing the 

 snails on the vegetation; when matters so 

 shaped themselves that I might have found 

 time, the snails within Avalking distance of 

 camp had been so reduced in numbers by the 

 drilling of the soldiers that it was a rare 

 thing to find as many as three individuals 

 on one weed. I regret that it thus was im- 

 possible for us to get a view showing the 

 "weeds blossoming snails." i 



1 The shells collected by Mr. Crabb belong to a group of land moUuscans (Bulimulidae) characteristic 

 of tropical and temperate South America, and of outlying faunal limits that extend to Yucatan and Vera 

 Cruz. They have many representatives in Central America, and are found also in the West Indies, 

 although here perhaps restricted more narrowly to tlie Caribbean group of islands; extralimital species 

 are found under favorable circumstances as far north as Arkansas and Texas, and the genus on the 

 west coast prevails in parts of California. The Bulimulida3 embrace a family of shells conveniently 

 separated into three sections (Pilsbry) according to the smooth, wrinkled, or ribbed surface of the 

 apical whorls. The species whose numbers elicited the picturesque comment that "the prairie weeds 

 blossom snails in Texas," clauns quite extended areas of habitation from southwestern North Carolina to 

 Kentucky, to central Missouri, to Kansas, and southwest to Alabama and Texas. It is the B. dealbatus 

 Say, and is found very commonly in central and southern Texas, living in dense hordes in the mesquite 

 chaparral, wintering in the earth and summering upon the bushes. Like most of its congeners, it 

 luxuriates in moist conditions, and when under the stimulus of humidity it swarms, like an apparitional 

 blanket of life, covering the herbage of the warm plains. ^ — L. P. Grat.acap. 



