326 CHAPTER XLVL 



This is the ponderous sea-horn on which the 

 Persian Prince in Moore's " Fire Worshippers " blew 



" His signal deep and dread 

 As those the storm-fiend at his rising blows." 



Shells, we read, were the original trumpets of 

 mankind. The fishermen of Newfoundland blow a 

 Strombus gigas as a foghorn : they must have plenty 

 of practice, for this is the home of fogs, a veritable 

 Niflungs region. This shell was formerly used in 

 Wales as a dinner call. Among the miners of the 

 Guernsey granite (diorite) quarries it served, more 

 appropriately, as a blasting signal. 



Tritonia is a Mediterranean gasteropod, but I do 

 not know on what exact part of the coast the sailors 

 find it. 



I have alluded to snail-eating in another chapter. 

 The species considered edible belong to the genus 

 Helix. Those preferred by the natives are H. aspersa, 

 H. vermiculata, and H. nemoralis. The first of these 

 three is the common garden snail of which the thrushes 

 are so fond. He makes havoc of our choicest plants, 

 but the Frenchman turns the tables on him ; for he is 

 a favourite article of diet, especially on Good Fridays 

 and fast days. If. vermiculata is not British. But 

 H. nemoralis, the Belted or Girdled Snail, is our com- 

 monest land-shell. The diameter is about one inch ; 

 the colour varies from lemon to olive, and the brown 

 bands are also very variable. 



Labouring men eat H. pisana and H. variabilis 

 boiled with beans. Pisana is one of the rarest and 

 most beautiful of our British land-shells. It occurs 

 in Cornwall and in Ireland. 



H. operta, the glass snail, is considered a great 



