232 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



November, when they are closed with their white 

 epiphragm. The Parisians eat about fifteen or twenty 

 for breakfast, and they are also said to give a better 

 flavour to wine. 



In Spain, also, all snails are eaten, unless they are 

 too small to cook ; and they are called Caracola, and 

 the men who gather and sell them are called Caraco- 

 leros. However, they apply the term Caracola, to all 

 snail-like shells, only distinguishing them thus, Cara- 

 cola del mar, Caracola del rio % Caracola del huerta, i.e. 

 salt, freshwater, or garden caracoles. 



Rosstrassler mentions having seen fourteen different 

 species of Helicida? brought to the markets in Murcia 

 and Valencia, and sold to be eaten. He adds that 

 snails are not only food for the poor, for that many 

 kinds are too costly. One species, called Serranos, is 

 sold for a penny each of our English money ; but they 

 are not half that price bought by the dozen. They cook 

 them by stewing them, shells and all, in a richly-spiced 

 sauce, and then put the shell to the mouth, and draw 

 out the animal by sipping or sucking it. 



Rossmassler states, for the benefit of those who mav 

 travel in Spain for scientific purposes, that to collect 

 plants it is useless to visit the north of Spain before 

 the middle of April, and the south before the end of 

 March. For insects and shells, the end of the summer, 

 and, above all, the autumn is the best time of the 

 year. 



The snail hunters, who daily supply the markets 

 with large baskets of snails, often have to traverse 

 great tracts of hilly country, and are obliged to go out 

 very early in the morning, before sunrise, in search of 

 these creatures, as they are then to be found in more 



