IN A SNA1LERY. 



17 



gown embroidered with diamonds. Ordinarily the young 

 snail gnaws his way out in about twenty or thirty days af- 

 ter the laying of the egg ; but eggs laid in the autumn 

 often remain unchanged until spring; and, indeed, may 

 keep many years if they remain cool or dry. The vitality 

 of snails' eggs almost passes belief. They have been so 



TI1E COIL-SHELL (PLANOEIUS) AND A LIMNEA. 



completely dried as to be friable between the fingers, and 

 desiccated in a furnace until reduced to almost invisible 

 minuteness, yet always have regained their original bulk 

 upon exposure to damp, and the young have been devel- 

 oped with the same success as from eggs not handled. 

 More or less wholly dependent on moisture, the young 



2 



