~, 
248 HELIX ASPERSA. 
that of H. aspersa being an abruptly angled meandering series of more 
or less pyriform figures caused by the licking action of the radula, the 
angulation or reversal of direction being caused by the movement of its 
head from side to side. 
In captivity, Dr. Gain found it to eat more or less readily 114 out of 
the 197 different kinds of food offered; many being cultivated edible 
plants or fruits, but though this large number was accepted as food, only 
lettuce was eagerly and greedily devoured. 
Miss Hele, who has had great experience in rearing mollusks, found, 
however, that stale cabbage leaves which were beginning to turn orange- 
coloured in the progress of decay were decidedly preferred to all other 
food ; lettuce leaves being next in order of preference. 
Other observers have noted that this species is exceptionally fond of 
the leaves of nasturtium, hop, primrose, nettles, alder, wild celery, and 
wild cherry. 
Mr. Hopkinson and others have remarked upon the attractiveness of 
the broom plant (Surothamnus scoparius) as bemg very pronounced, this 
shrub in gardens being frequently covered with the snails which ascend 
its branches in the cool of the evening of even the hottest days. 
M. Norguet has also recorded the marked preference shown for the 
laburnum (Cytisus luburnum) the foliage of which in the department of 
the Nord is greedily eaten to the neglect of that of all neighbouring shrubs. 
Among the foods which the species will eat on occasion is the holly, 
the leaves and even the spines being consumed. Dr. Johnston records it 
feeding on the tiery-tlavoured foliage of Clematis fammula : My. Standen 
on decaying seaweed by the shore at Portsalon, Donegal ; it has also been 
noted feeding upon dead or dying earthworms ; and has been known, 
according to M. Bonnafoux, to perforate birds’ eggs to get at their contents. 
They however, avoid mint, laurel and sweetbriar, and the mustard plant 
is held in special abhorrence. 
They will eat voraciously the leaves of the spindle tree (Awonymus 
europeus), though this leads to their death in a very few days. ‘The yew 
tree would also seem to have a baneful influence on this species. Messrs. 
Adams and ‘Thompson have recorded that the sides of the ‘“ Pilgrims’ 
Roads” or paths made by the processions of pilgrims to the shrine of 
Thomas & Becket, at Canterbury, are planted with yews, and under these 
trees heaps of dead shells of A. aspersa were so invariably found that it 
suggested the possibility that the yew poison, which affects cattle so 
injuriously, may also act on the snails. 
Enemies and Parasites.—'lhe enemies of //. asperse include most 
of those preying upon mollusks generally, as rats, moles, and hedgehogs, 
which, wider certain circumstances, devour the animal with avidity. The 
rabbit is, according to Mr. L. E. Adams, another of its enemies, as he 
found at Portrush an abundance of the gnawed and empty shells’ about 
the entrance to the burrows. 
The Field Vole (Microtus agrestis) also destroys many of this species, 
Mr. E. W. Swanton finding abundant evidence of their destructiveness in 
a limestone quarry at Minshull, Dorset. 
Ducks, geese, fowls, thrushes, blackbirds, ete., are all likewise very 
destructive aud persistent enemies. 
