WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



infant within seems to wear a gown embroidered 

 with diamonds. Ordinarily the young snail gnaws 

 his way out in about twenty or thirty days after 

 the laying of the egg ; but eggs laid in the autunm 

 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 dried so completely 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 dampness, and the young have been 

 developed with the same success as from eggs not 

 handled. 



" The young animal gnaws its way out of the egg, 

 and makes its first repast on the shell it has just 

 left. It consists at first of about one and a half 

 whorls, the umbilicus being minute but open. Its 

 growth is rapid, and it has usually increased in 

 magnitude three or four times before the close of 

 the first year. . . . The growth of slugs is remark- 

 ably rapid. We have known the 3^oung to double 

 their size and weight within a week. Individuals 

 kept in confinement and fully fed reach a much 

 greater size than when in their natural condition." 

 So says Mr. W. G. Binney. 



298 



