II HOMING AND FINDING FOOD 35 



were placed in a small and ill-provided garden. The stronger of 

 the two soon disappeared over the wall into the next garden, 

 which was well furnislied with food. It was concluded that the 

 snail had deserted its weakly mate, but after twenty-four hours 

 it returned, and apparently communicated the results of its 

 expedition, for after a short time l)oth started off along the same 

 track, and disappeared over the wall. According to Dr. W. H. 

 Dall,^ a young girl who possessed a remarkable power over 

 animals succeeded in training a snail {H. alholcibris) to come out 

 of its lurking-place at her call. If placed in a room, it would 

 shrink into its shell at the sound of any other voice, but it would 

 always start off in the direction of hers. 



Snails and slugs possess to a considerable extent the faculty 

 of ' homing,' or returning to the same hiding-place day after day, 

 after their night excursions in search of food. ]\Ir. C. Ashford 

 once marked with a dab of white paint seven Helix asjoersa found 

 lurking under a broken flagstone ; at 1 P.M. the same evenino- 

 three had disappeared on the forage ; the next morning all were 

 ' at home.' The following night at 1 p.m. five were gone out, 

 two being discovered with some difficulty ' in a small jungle ' 

 six feet away ; the next morning six out of tlie seven were safely 

 beneath the flagstone. According to the same authority, Helix 

 asjjersa will find its way across a cinder-path (which it specially 

 detests) to get to its favourite food, and will return by the same 

 way to its old quarters, altliough it could easily have found new 

 lodgings nearer the food-supply. A snail has been observed to 

 occupy a hole in the brick wall of a kitchen-garden about four 

 feet from the ground. Leaning against the wall, and immediately 

 luider the hole, was a piece of wood, the lower end of which rested 

 in a bed of herbs. For months the snail employed this ladder 

 between its food and its home, coining down as soon as it was 

 dark, and retiring to rest during the day. 



lu greenhouses a slug will forage night after night — as 

 gardeners know to their cost— over the same beat, and will 

 always return to the same hiding-place. Limax fiavus has l)een 

 noticed crawling with great regularity to a sink from a hole near 

 the water-pipe, and keeping to a well-marked circular track. In 

 all probability the scent, either of the desired object of food, or of 

 the creature's own trail, plays a considerable part in keeping it 



1 Amn: Xat. xv. 1S81, p. 970. 



