y 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



23 



toward the apex, which is perfectly smooth ; 

 aperture lunate, not angulated at the base 

 of the column, but obtusely curved ; lip con- 

 tracting the mouth abruptly, widely reflec- 

 ted, flat, and white. Breadth one inch." 



The animal deposits its eggs in May or 

 June according to locality, in the light 

 mould by the side of logs and rocks. If 

 these eggs are taken and kept in a warm 

 room, we can raise them, and thereby 

 obtain more delicate and symmetrical shells 

 than those found in the woods. The eggs 

 hatch in from twenty to thirt}' days, the 

 3'oung snail being provided at birth with a 

 shell of one and a half whorls. They make 

 their first repast on the pellicles of the eggs 

 from which they have just emerged. They 

 will eat a mixture of flour or meal and water 

 and are very fond of 3'oung cabbage or let- 

 tuce leaves. Care must be taken to keep 

 the full light of the sun from them and to 

 give them plenty of air and moisture. 

 They attain their growth in two years, or 

 much sooner if a little powdered chalk or 

 other preparation of lime is mixed with 

 their food. When about half grown they 

 can scarcely be distinguished from the next 

 species, the umbilicus being open, and the 

 lip sharp and thin. When they have 

 arrived at maturit}^ the lip thickens and is 

 reflected over the umbilicus, which it com- 

 pletely covers. 



Like all other land snails in temperate 

 climates, they cease to feed in October, and 

 select a place under some log or stone, and fix 

 themselves mouth upwards. They then with- 

 draw their bodies within the shell, and hav- 

 ing secreted a thin transparent membrane 

 with which they cover the mouth of the 

 shell, thereby excluding the rain and cold, 

 they lie dormant until the next spring, 

 when, as Gould says, ^ they break down 

 this barrier and enter upon a new campaign 

 of duty and pleasure." 



In watching these animals in captivit}', I 

 have noticed that whenever the earth in 

 the bottom of the dish in which the}' were 

 kept, became dry, they v^^ould always retire 

 into their shells, and having stretched across 

 the aperture their thin glistening membrane, 

 thej' would lie dormant until supplied with 

 the necessary moisture. This they would 

 do at any and all times of the 3'ear ; although 

 being kept in a warm room all winter, 

 they did not hibernate as they do in the 



woods. Probabl}' they do the same in sum- 

 mer in their native haunts, for the best 

 time to find them is just after a rain. 



Though timid and evidently frightened 

 when first taken, the_y soon become accus- 

 tomed to being handled, and love to be 

 bathed and fed with fresh leaves ; and 

 while feeding so transparent is the bod}- of 

 the animal, each particle of food can be 

 seen passing from the mouth, over the top 

 of the head between the tentacles, to the 

 stomach. While eating, a peculiar nipping, 

 rasping sound is heard, caused by the den- 

 ticles or teeth of the snail tearing its food 

 in pieces. The teeth of all mollusks are 

 situated on their tongues. They are very 

 numerous, and are placed in rows ; they 

 are pointed and recurved, or turned back- 

 wards. The tongues of the molusca are 

 very interesting to microscopists. By leav- 

 ing the animal in a w^eak solution of potash 

 for a few days the body will completely dis- 

 solve, leaving only the tongue, which is 

 about one quarter of an inch long and one- 

 eighth of an inch wide in this species. The 

 number, size, and shape of the teeth differ 

 in each species. In Mesodon albolabris, or 

 the white lipped snail, the number is about 

 ten thousand. 



There is a variety of this species found 

 sparingly in some of the states, called den- 

 tata, which develops a small tooth, or rather 

 a calosity (for it never attains the size of a 

 respectable tooth) on the parietal wall. I 

 found onl}' four specimens of this variety in 

 Rhode Island, all of which were obtained 

 in Cumberland, near Beacon Pole Hill. 



{To he continued.) 



NOTICE. 



Mr. Oliver Davie has met with trouble 

 and disappointment in the destruction, by 

 fire, of the plates prepared for his forth- 

 coming Egg Check List. 



The work will necessarily be delayed a 

 few weeks longer, but I shall have plenty 

 of them as soon as issued. 



Two Sea Doves, AHe nigricans, were j 

 shot near Warwick, during a storm, about! 

 the middle of February. 



