SHELLS 



that reason are called land ->hells. Such is the spiral 

 snail. " 



"I have seen very pretty snails," Jules remarked, 

 "almost as pretty as the shells in this drawer. In 

 thi' woods you see yellow ones with several black 

 hands wound round them in regular order." 



"The creature we call the spiral snail isn't it a 

 slug that finds an empty shell and lives in it!" asked 

 Kmile. 



"No, my friend; a slug remains always a slug 

 without becoming a snail; that is to say, it never has 

 a shell. The snail, on the contrary, is born with 

 a tiny shell that grows little by little as the snail 

 grows. The empty shells you find in the country 

 have had their inhabitants, which are now dead and 

 turned to dust, only their houses remaining." 



"A slug and a snail without its shell are very much 

 alik- 



" Both are mollusks. There are mollusks that do 

 not make shells, the slug for example; others that 

 do make them, such as the snails, the paludmid:v, 

 and the cassididae." 



"And of what does the snail make its house!" 



"Of its own substance, my little friend; it sweats 

 the materials for its house." 



"I don't understand." 



" Don't you make your teeth, so white, shiny, and 

 all in a row! From time to time a ne\v one pushes 

 throuirh, without your giving it any thought. It does 

 it by itself. These beautiful teeth are of very hard 

 stone. Where does that stone come from! From 

 your own substance, it is clear. Our gums sweat 



