HELIX. 113 



f. 2.) who has given a most complete and interesting 

 description of all the changes which the egg undergoes 

 during its hatching, in the first plate of the third 

 part of his work. 



From the time of the Romans, who fattened them 

 as an article of food, they have been eaten by various 

 European nations, dressed in various ways. Petro- 

 nius Arbiter twice mentions them as served up at 

 the feast of Trimalchio (Nero), first fried, and again 

 grilled on a silver gridiron. 



At one period it seems that they were admitted at 

 our own tables ; as Lister, in his Hist. Anim. Angl. 

 p. 111., tells us the manner in which they were 

 cooked in his time: " They are boiled in spring- 

 water, and when seasoned with oil, salt, and pepper, 

 make a dainty dish." (" Coquuntur ex aqua fluviatili, 

 et adjectis oleo, sale et pipere, lautum ferculum prae- 

 parant.") And Ben Jonson, in " Every Man in his 

 Humour," mentions this dish as a delicacy : 



" Neither have I 

 Dressed snails or mushrooms curiously before him." 



These circumstances suppose their long foreknown 

 establishment in this country, and, together with 

 their general diffusion in certain soils, incline us to 

 consider them as indigenous, and not introduced by 

 Sir Kenelm Digby for medicinal purposes, nor, 

 according to Da Costa, by Mr. Howard as an article 

 of food. 



Dr. Turton observes : " After the animal has been 

 extracted, there remains at the bottom of the shell a 

 glairy transparent matter, which affords one of the 



I 



