HELICIDiE. — SNAIL. 225 



transported. In Lorraine, a corner of the garden is 

 often given up to the snails, surrounded with a fine 

 trellis-work to prevent their escaping, and all kinds of 

 vegetables are placed inside which are most appreciated 

 by them. During the winter, the " escargots " (their 

 shells being closed with their epiphragm) are kept in 

 pots, jars, or baskets, in a dry cold place. The vine- 

 growers in the neighbourhood of Dijon keep them in a 

 dry cellar, or dig a trench in the vine-slopes, placing 

 at the bottom some leaves, then their snails, covering 

 them with more leaves and a few spadefuls of earth. 



In Silesia, the snails are fed with marjoram, wild 

 thyme, and aromatic plants, to give them a flavour. 



Ulm, in Wurtemberg, is celebrated for its " escar- 

 gotieres," and, according to Marteni, more than ten 

 millions of Helix pomatia are sent away to different 

 gardens and " escargotieres " to fatten, and when 

 ready for table are sent to various convents in Austria 

 for consumption during Lent.* 



Helicidce are considered rather poor food, and there- 

 fore suitable as Lenten fare; and this peculiaritv has 

 given rise to a singular custom near Bordeaux, men- 

 tioned by M. Fischer, who tells us that every year 

 crowds of people direct their steps towards the town- 

 ship of Canderan, to end the Carnival with gaiety, and 

 to have a foretaste of Lent by feasting on snails. The 

 consumption is considerable, and a dish of twenty-five 

 snails costs one franc fifty centimes. 



A friend told me he had often seen the large vine- 



* Escargotieres, or snail gardens have been in use for a length of 

 time in various parts of Europe. Dr. Ebrard in his pamphlet ' Des 

 Escargots,' mentions those of Brunswick and Copenhagen, which latter 

 furnished snails for the tables of the noble Danes, in the eighteenth 

 century. 



