WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



slime. The exudation takes place most abundant- 

 ly near the posterior extremity; and so tenacious 

 is it that some species can hang in mid-air by spin- 

 ning out a mucous thread; but, unlike the spider, 

 have not the power to retrace their way by reeling 

 in the gossamer cable. This ability to let them- 

 selves hang by a thread of mucus is more charac- 

 teristic of young specimens than of full-grown ones, 

 w^hich seem to grow too heavy to intrust them- 

 selves to such suspension. The slime also serves 

 the naked species as a protection, birds and ani- 

 mals disliking the sticky, disgusting fluid; and 

 it serves others as a weapon, seeming to benumb 

 whatever small creature it touches. The olea- 

 cina, of Cuba, thus frequently is able to feed upon 

 mollusks of twice its strength. 



The snail possesses an elaborate anatomy for 

 the performance of all the functions of digestion, 

 respiration, circulation, and reproduction. A col- 

 lar of nervous matter encircles the throat, whence 

 two trunks carry nerves throughout the body, and 

 filaments pass forward to the "horns," the longer 

 and superior pair of which end in minute eyes and 

 are called ''eye-stalks," while the shorter pair are 

 only tactile organs, and hence ''feelers." These 

 tentacles are as expressive as a mule's ears, giving 



292 



