IN A SNAILERY. AEF 
gown embroidered with diamonds. Ordinarily the young 
snail gnaws his way out in about twenty or thirty days af- 
ter the laying of the egg; but eggs laid in the autumn 
often remain unchanged until spring; and, indeed, may 
keep many years if they remain cool or dry. The vitality 
of snails’ eggs almost passes belief. They have been so 
THE OOIL-SHELL (PLANOBBIS) AND A LIMNEA. 
completely dried as to be friable between the fingers, and 
desiccated in a furnace until reduced to almost invisible 
minuteness, yet always have regained their original bulk 
upon exposure to damp, and the young have been devel- 
oped with the same success as from eggs not handled. 
More or less wholly dependent on moisture, the young 
2 
