HELICID.E. SNAIL. 17 



{Helix aspersa) the same price is realized, and that of 

 Helix vermiculata* amounts to 4800 francs. It is also 

 stated, that in the market at Dijon is sold, annually, 

 about 6000 francs' worth of the vine snail, Helix pomatia 

 (the escargot par excellence, and called also luma, gros 

 luma, and le moncle de vigne), at 1 franc 50 centimes per 

 hundred."f 



In Corsica the same species are eaten ; and it is said 

 that, in the island of Re the sale of these Helicidce 

 amounts annually to 25,000 francs, but probably this 

 sum is exaggerated. In Burgundy, Champagne, and 

 Franche-Comte, a great quantity of snails of all kinds 

 are consumed, and also sent to Paris ; and Professor Sim- 

 monds mentions that there are now 50 restaurants, and 

 more than 1200 private tables, in that city, where snails 

 are considered a delicacy by from 8000 to 10,000 consu- 

 mers ; that the monthly consumption of this mollusk is 

 estimated at half a million ; again, that the market 

 price of the vineyard snail (apple or vine snail, Helix 

 pomatia) is from 2s. to 3s. per hundred, while those of 

 the hedges, woods, and forests bring only Is. 6d. to 2s. 

 He further adds, that in the vicinity of Dijon the pro- 

 prietor of one snailery is said to clear nearly £300 

 a year by his snails ; and also that there are exported 

 from Crete annually about 20,000 okes (each nearly 

 3 lb.) of snails, valued at 15,000 Turkish piastres. 



M. Renou, (as quoted by M. Cailliaud, of Nantes,) in 

 a curious account, read in 1864 before the Academical 

 Society at Nantes, on the importance that the ancients 

 attached to snails, observed, that during 1862 and 1863 



* Helix vermiculata is sold at Leghorn under the name of chiocciola, 

 and at Naples shares in common with other snails that of maruzze. 

 f Dr. Ebrard. 



C 



