OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES 365 



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 hermaphrodite, there is no difficulty in 

 meeting with a mate, as would be the case were they of dif- 

 ferent 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 earthworms ; while the 

 shelled snail, the fapeoi/cos, does not come forth at all till about 

 April loth, 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 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, 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 enamelled skin." 



SHAKESPEARE'S Mids. Nights 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 backward, like 

 a stocking or woman's glove. Not only the whole skin, but 

 scales from the very eyes are peeled off, and appear in the 

 head of the slough like a pair of spectacles. The reptile, at 



