22 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



races. The rival snails were placed at the foot of a post, 

 and the one that first reached the top, won the land for 

 its master. In the Isle of Wight, the fishermen of 

 Atherfield and Brixton consider snails the best bait for 

 prawns, and horseflesh next. 



The shells of Helix pomatia are used for making small 

 whistles for children. The apex of the shell is cut off, 

 and a piece of tin added ; they are then sold for a penny 

 each ; and who does not recollect the wonderful cats 

 made of the shells of the common garden snail, Helix 

 aspersa, with heads of cement or putty, and how anxious 

 we were to become possessors of these beautiful crea- 

 tures ! They are now seldom seen, except in some small 

 out-of-the-way shop in a country town or village, — such 

 trifles not suiting the tastes of the precocious juveniles 

 of the present day. 



The ancients seem to have studied the habits of these 

 mollusks, as besides Theophrastus, whom I have already 

 quoted, Aristotle also mentions them ; and Teucer speaks 

 of the snail as " an animal destitute of feet and spine 

 and bone, whose back is clad with horny shell, with 

 long projecting and retreating eyes,"* and many others. 

 Hesiod calls the snail the " hero that carries his house 

 on his back," and Anaxilas says — 



" You are e'en more distrustful than a snail, 

 Who fears to leave even his house behind him."f 



Somewhat different is the old English proverbial rhyme, 



" Good wives to snails should be akin, 

 Always to keep their homes within ; 

 Yet unlike snails they should not pack 

 All they are worth upon their back." 



* Athenseus, ' Deipnosophists,' book x. c. 83, p. 720. 

 f Ibid., book ii. c. 63, p. 104 



