534 Mollusca. 



snail lays eggs, which are about the size of small peas, 

 semi-transparent, and of a soft substance. By closely 

 examining with a magnifying lens the eggs which a 

 Water Snail, kept in a bottle of water, had deposited 

 against the glass, the young Snail was seen in the egg, 

 with its embryo shell on its back ; two have also been 

 observed in one egg, each of them with the rudiments 

 of the shell. 



The Garden Snail is extremely tenacious of life, and 

 remains in a state of torpor during the winter. It is 

 said, indeed, that it can remain in this state for many 

 years, and the following instance is probably without 

 parallel in any other animal : Mr. S. Simon, a merchant 

 of Dublin, whose father, a Fellow of the Eoyal Society, 

 and a lover of natural history, left him a small collection 

 of fossils and other curiosities, had, among them, the 

 shells of some Snails. About fifteen years after his 

 father's death, he gave to his son, a child of ten years 

 old, some of these Snail-shells to play with. The boy 

 placed them in a flower-pot, which he filled with water, 

 and the next day put them into a basin. Having occa- 

 sion to use this, Mr. Simon observed that the animals 

 had come out of their shells. He examined the child 

 respecting them, and was assured that they were the 

 same which had been in the cabinet. The boy said he 

 had a few more, and brought them. Mr. S. put one of 

 these into water, and, in an hour and a half afterwards, 

 observed that it had put out its horns and body, which 

 it moved but slowly, probably from weakness. Major 

 Valiancy, Dr. Span, and other gentlemen, were after- 

 wards present, and saw one of these Snails crawl out ; 

 the rest being dead, probably from their remaining 

 some days in the water. Similar observations have 

 since been so frequently repeated, that there is now no 

 doubt that Snails of various kinds may retain their 

 vitality for years when preserved in a dry state. 



THE SMALL GKEY SLUG, (Limax cinereus,) 



RESEMXLES a Snail in all points except that it has 

 n j shell, consequently the brown skin of the back is 



