HELICHXE. SNAIL. 227 



of snails both for food and medicine, and he tells us 

 that during a sojourn of some weeks at Hyeres, in the 

 month of April, he was struck by seeing suspended at 

 the side of the door of each cottage, a rush basket of 

 a peculiar form. He was curious to find out the contents, 

 and on looking into one he found it full of snails. At 

 the sight of these creatures he made a slight movement 

 of disdain, which was perceived by the master of the 

 house, who said, " These snails disgust you, but we poor 

 people eat no other meat all the year, except at Easter." 



Dr. Ebrard adds that, during the famine of 1816 and 

 1817, snails were most valuable articles of food to the in- 

 habitants of Central France ; again, that from the coasts 

 of Saintonge and Aunis, snails have been for a long time 

 exported in casks to Senegal and the Antilles, amongst 

 them Helix aspersa ; but in 1825 this trade had 

 greatly declined. M. Valmont Bomard saw the pea- 

 sants, in the neighbourhood of La Eochelle, gather- 

 ing an immense quantity of small snails tq. send to 

 America, in casks filled with branches of trees, crossed 

 again and again, so that the snails might be able to 

 attach themselves firmly, and not be much shaken 

 during the transport. 



Helix aperta, which is not known in England, but is 

 figured in Messrs. Forbes and Hanley's ' British Con- 

 chology/ from a dead specimen having been found in 

 Guernsey, in 1839, is highly esteemed amongst real 

 connoisseurs of snails, and is found in Provence (where 

 it is called by the Provenfaux, Tapada, Tapa, or Tapct], 

 in some parts of Italy, and in the islands of the Medi- 

 terranean. 



M. Moqum-Tandon tells us that vessels regularly 

 visited the coasts of Liguria, in search of considerable 



