OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND YEEMES. 347 



when thus extended, they seem to be content with, such 

 as blades of grass, straws, fallen leaves, the ends of which 

 they often draw into their holes ; even in copulation, their 

 hinder parts never quit their holes : so that no two, except 

 they lie within reach of each other's bodies, can have any 

 commerce of that kind ; but, as every individual is an her- 

 maphrodite, there is no difficulty in meeting with a mate as 

 would be the case were they of different sexes. WHITE. 



SNAILS AND SLUGS. The shell-less snails called slugs are 

 in motion all the winter, in mild weather, and commit great 

 depredations on garden plants, and much injure the green 

 wheat, the loss of which is imputed to earth-worms ; while 

 the shelled snail, the fapeomos, does not come forth at all till 

 about April 10th, and not only lays itself up pretty early in 

 autumn, in places secure from frost, but also throws out 

 round the mouth of its shell a thick operculu/m 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, gray, shell-less cellar snails lay themselves up about 

 the 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. 



SHAKSPEABE, 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 have been newly cast. From circumstances, it 

 appeared as if turned wrong side outward, and as drawn off" 



* The slug is covered with a much thicker slime than the shelled 

 snail. ED. 



