HELIX SNAIL. 107 



seen either from the 'upper or under part of the 

 shell. Many display a form between these two 

 extremes ; - others again are turbinate, and of a 

 globose appearance.* 



There is not, perhaps, any part of animated 

 nature more abundant or universally diffused 

 than snails ; the butterfly alone can compete with 

 them in this respect. They are found in the 

 most barren and desert wastes. There are parts 

 of the great Sahara destitute of all manner of 

 herbage, except here and there a tuft of coarse 

 grass, or a solitary stunted laurel, which, accor- 

 ding to the Psalmist's description, " withe re th 

 before it be plucked up." Yet these parched 

 specimens of vegetation are sometimes quite 

 studded with snails. It has often been conjec- 

 tured, that snails were in part the food of the 

 Israelites, when they took their rapid flight from 

 Egypt ; for the country, through which they 

 passed in their way to the Red Sea, is described 

 by one who traversed it, as having a herbage 

 underneath the trees and shrubs, which is com- 

 pletely covered with snails of a prodigious ske, 

 and of the best sort ; and in that country these 

 animals are esteemed a delicacy. 



Snails furnish a valuable article of food on 

 the shores of the Mediterranean, where they are 

 boiled in their shells, and served up with rice. 

 They possess nearly the same nutritious qualities 

 as oysters, and the use of them has often proved 

 efficacious in consumptive disorders. 



* Plate V. figure 1. 



