200 ESCAPE IN SPRING. 



and continues repeating this operation, till there are sometimes 

 five or six of these cells filled with air between it and the 

 operculum. The membraneous partitions are more numerous 

 at the end than at the beginning of winter, and in snails in- 

 habiting the mountains, than in those in the plains. Respi- 

 ration ceases, during the period of hybernation. 



HENRIETTA. 



But how does the snail get out when the spring arrives'! 



Their mode of escape is also singular: the air which they 

 had expired on retiring into their shell further and further, 

 remains between the different partitions of mucous membrane 

 above mentioned, which form so many cells hermetically 

 sealed; this they again inspire, and thus, acquiring fresh 

 rigor, each separate partition, as they proceed, is broken by 

 the pressure of the foot, projected in part through the mantle: 

 when arrived at the operculum they burst it by a strong effort, 

 and finally detaching it, then emerge from their long im- 

 prisonment.* 



HENRIETTA. 



Thank you, Esther, for this interesting account; I hope that 

 some day we shall find a snail in its nest; but this dry 

 weather I never see them. 



MRS. F. 



No; they remain quiet, because their locomotive powers 

 are much impeded in dry weather, by the dust, &c., adhering 

 to their slimy foot; after rain, they move about with com- 

 parative celerity. It is on this principle, that gardeners lay 

 sawdust around the plants which they which to defend from 

 their attacks, as the sawdust clings so to the foot of the snail 

 as to prevent the animal from passing over it. 



HENRIETTA. 



What a beautiful thin shell some of the snails have! 

 * Kirby's Bridge water Treatise. 



