IV PRICES PAID FOR SHELLS I 2 I 



rain." They were " placed upon the tongue without any previous 

 preparation, and swallowed alive." My informant himself in- 

 dulged in this practice for some time, " not on account of any 

 gustatory pleasure it afforded, but from some vague notion that 

 it might do him good." 



A colleague of mine at King's College tells me that the country 

 people at Ponteland, near Morpeth, habitually collect Limax 

 agrestis and boil it in milk as a prophylactic against consump- 

 tion. He has himself frequently devoured them alive, but they 

 must be swallowed, not scrunched with the teeth, or they taste 

 somewhat bitter. 



Snails have occasionally fallen, with other noxious creatures, 

 under the ban of the Church. In a prayer of the holy martyr 

 Trypho of Lampsacus (about 10th cent, a.d.) there is a form of 

 exorcism given which may be used as occasion requires. It 

 runs as follows : " ye Caterpillars, "Worms, Beetles, Locusts, 

 Grasshoppers, Woolly- Bears, Wire worms, Longlegs, Ants, Lice, 

 Bugs, Skippers, Cankerworms, Palmerworms, Snails, Earwigs, 

 and all other creatures that cling to and wither the fruit of the 

 grape and all other herbs, I charge you by the many-eyed 

 Cherubim, and by the six-winged Seraphim, which fly round the 

 throne, and by the holy Angels and all the Powers, etc. etc., hm^t 

 not the vines nor the land nor the fruit of the trees nor the 



vegetables of the servant of the Lord, but depart into the 



wild mountains, into the unfruitful woods, in which God hath 

 given you yoin* daily food." 



Prices given for Shells.— Very high prices have occasionally 

 been given for individual specimens, particularly about thirty or 

 forty years ago, when the mania for collecting was at its height. 

 In those days certain families, such as the Volutidae, Conidae, and 

 Cypraeidae, were the especial objects of a collector's ardour, and 

 he spared no expense to make his set of the favourite genus as 

 complete as possible. Thus at Stevens' auction-rooms in Covent 

 Garden, on 21st July 1854, one specimen of Conus cedo nulli 

 fetched £9 : 10s., and another £16, a G. omaicus 16 guineas, 

 C. victor £10, and C. gloria maris, the greatest prize of all, 

 £43 : Is. At the Vernede sale, on 14th Dec. 1859 two Conns 

 omaicus fetched £15 and £22, and a C. gloria maris £34. At 

 the great Dennison sale, in April 1865, the Conidae fetched 

 extravagant prices, six specimens averaging over £20 a-piece. 



