CONCLUSION. 



Hints to Collectors When to Collect How .to Collect And how to 

 Preserve Shells. 



THE best time for collecting is in the autumn, when 

 the mollusks are full grown, and before the beauty 

 of the shells becomes destroyed by the winter rains. 

 At the commencement of the rainy season, too, 

 snails are much more readily discovered, since they 

 leave their retreat and may be seen climbing over 

 trees in all directions. From this habit, indeed, 

 they have been found to furnish some indication of 

 approaching change in the weather. An American 

 naturalist, Mr. B. Thomas of Cincinnati, has ob- 

 served that, as natural barometers, snails are more 

 reliable than leaves ; that in consequence of their 

 never drinking, all the moisture they receive is by 

 absorption of rain, mist, or dew through the tissues 

 of their bodies, and this they afterwards exude at 

 regular intervals until they obtain a fresh supply. 

 Two days before rain is about to fall they climb 

 trees, which, according to Mr. Thomas, they never 

 do on other occasions ; and when they are observed 



