198 EDIBLE SNAILs*. 



to be seen, which were regularly fed with cabbages and 

 other vegetables until sufficiently fattened to be brought to 

 market. 



ESTHER. 



Is the eatable snail a native of Great Britain "? 



MRS. F. 



No; but it has been naturalised in parts of Surrey, and, I 

 believe, Northamptonshire. On the downs near Oroyden, it 

 is of common occurrence. Tradition assigns the importation 

 of these snails to Sir Kenelm Digby, who is said to have in- 

 troduced them, to cure his wife of a consumption. I believe 

 that attempts have been made to naturalise them in other 

 parts of the country, but without success. This species is 

 much larger than the garden snail, and the shell is of a pretty 

 light brown. 



ESTHER. 



I have somewhere read, that snails are supposed to have 

 been eaten by the Israelites, in their rapid flight out of Egypt 

 to the Red Sea. 



MRS. F. 



That is a supposition which must rest upon mere conjee-' 

 ture, as there is no mention of snails in the Pentateuch, to 

 warrant the assertion. It is true, that the country about the 

 Red Sea is covered with a close herbage completely ani- 

 mated with snails, which are much esteemed by the natives; 

 and so abundantly is this genus diffused, that, even in the 

 most desert wastes, in parts of Sahara, which is destitute of 

 all kinds of vegetation, except here and there a tuft of grass, 

 or a solitary stunted tree, which seems to realise the descrip- 

 tion of the Psalmist, " that withereth before it groweth up;" 

 yet, even these parched specimens of vegetation, have their 

 inhabitants, and are sometimes quite studded with the snails 

 which exist on this scanty nourishment. 



ESTHER. 

 The natural history of the snail is most interesting. It 



