The Common Snail. 35 



appears to be a very serviceable kind of instrumenu 

 to Mr. Ilelic aspersa, \\\\o, if liis character be not 

 aspersed, is very cles'ructive to all sorts of greenery. 

 The lower lip is divi Jed only in tlie middle, where 

 there is an opening of some width : it is not horny, 

 like the upper one. 



Snails lay eggs_, which are about the size of very 

 small peas ; they are soft, and of a whitish colour. 

 Being semi, that is, half, transparent, or clear, their 

 contents can be partly seen; and in those of a water 

 Snail, deposited against the side of a glass bottle, 

 the young were detected with partially-formed shells 

 upon their backs. 



To show how tenacious they are of life, it has 

 been mentioned that Mr. S. Simon, a Dublin mer- 

 chant, had a collection of fossils and other curiosities 

 left him by his father; among these were some 

 shells of Snails, SLudf/ieen years after the collection 

 came into his possession, his son had the shells to 

 play with, and placed them in a basin of water, 

 when lo ! out came the slimy bodies and knobbed 

 horns of several of the Gastcropods, no doubt huDgry 

 enough after their long sleep. 



We all know that our Common Snails hybernate, 

 or sleep throagh the winter. As soon as the chills 

 of autumn are felt, they seek out some snug crevico 



