110 UNIVALVES. 



the dainties of the luxurious Romans, who had 

 their Cochlearia, or nurseries for snails, where 

 the animals were fed on bran and wine, till they 

 increased to such a size, that if we may credit 

 Varro, a shell has been known sufficiently large 

 to contain ten quarts of liquid. It is mentioned 

 as a remarkable fact relating to this shell, that 

 when the animal is in a diseased state, the spire 

 becomes much elongated. 



HELIX Hortensis. 

 GARDEN SNAIL. 



Specific character. Shell subglobular, smooth, 

 diaphanous with fine transversely banded- whorls ; 

 aperture roundish, semiorbicular, the outer lip 

 slightly reflected ; the colour of the shell and the 

 bands are exceedingly various ; greatest dia- 

 meter less than an inch. 



This is the most common species of snail. At 

 the approach of winter forming an operculum of 

 a coriaceous substance, composed of several 

 coatings, and finding a retreat at the roots of 

 trees, and under old walls, it braves, the rigours 

 of the season. Its circulation is most remarkably 

 sluggish, and its movements are correspondingly 

 slow ; but the thick juices which prevent its ac- 

 tivity, enable the snail to bear the severity of win- 

 ter, so that no cold, however intense, has been 

 known to freeze it. Again, these juices, though 

 they retard the progress of the animal, furnish it 

 by means of their viscidity, with the power of 



