424 OBSERVATIONS ON sNSECTS AND VERMES. 



round the mouth of its shell a thick operculum formed from its 

 own saliva ; so that it is perfectly secured and corked up, as it 

 were, from all inclemencies. The cause why the slugs are able to 

 endure the cold so much better than shell-snails is, that their 

 bodies are covered with slime, as whales are with blubber. 



Snails copulate about Midsummer ; and soon after deposit their 

 eggs in the mould by running their heads and bodies under 

 ground. Hence the way to be rid of them is to kill as many as 

 possible before they begin to breed. 



Large, grey, shell-less cellar-snails lay themselves up about the 



SNAILS AND SLUGS. 



same time with those that live abroad ; hence it is plain that a 

 defect of warmth is not the only cause that influences their retreat. 

 WHITE. 



SNAKE'S SLOUGH. 



" There the snake throws her enamell'd skin." 



SHAKESPEARE'S MIDS. NIGHT'S DREAM. 



About the middle of this month (September) we found in a 

 field near a hedge the slough of a large snake, which seemed to 



