INSECTS AND VERMES. 477 



precipitation under the earth. Whatever food falls 

 within their reach when thus extended, they seem to be 

 content with, such as blades of grass, straws, fallen 

 leaves, the ends of which they often draw into their 

 holes ; even when pairing their hinder parts never quit 

 their holes : so that no two, except they lie within 

 reach of each other's bodies, can pair ; but as every 

 individual is an hermaphrodite, there is no'difficulty in 

 meeting with a mate, as would be the case were they of 

 different sexes. 



SNAILS AND SLUGS. 



THE shell-less snails called slugs are in motion all the 

 winter in mild weather, and commit great depredations 

 on garden plants, and much injure the green wheat, 

 the loss of which is imputed to earthworms ; while the 

 shelled snail, the Qepeomog, does not come forth at all till 

 about April 10th, and not only lays itself up pretty 

 early in autumn, in places secure from frost, but also 

 throws out round the mouth of its shell a thick opercu- 

 lum formed from its own saliva ; so that it is perfectly 

 secured, and corked up as it were, from all inclemencies. 

 The cause why the slugs are able to endure the cold so 

 much better than shell snails is, that their bodies are 

 covered with slime as whales are with blubber. 



Snails pair about Midsummer; and soon after deposit 

 their eggs in the mould by running their heads and 

 bodies underground. Hence the way to be rid of them 

 is to kill as many as possible before they begin to 

 breed. 



Large, gray, shell-less, cellar snails lay themselves 

 up about the same time with those that live abroad ; 

 hence it is plain that a defect of warmth is not the only 

 cause that influences their retreat. 



