A SUMMER AT HOME. 231 



eluded grove, and liunting for half a day among the 

 decaying leaves, upturning the different layers of suc- 

 cessive autumnal deposits of withered foliage, . . . aside 

 from this quieting pursuit, we have no stirring incidents 

 in their life to contemplate, no frantic hops, skips, and 

 jumps of the insect tribe, no terrible bites to dread, or 

 poisonous stings to shrink from, no enemy of our hus- 

 bandry to baffle, no giant stride or rapid speed to won- 

 der at, for the snail is proverbially slow in every respect. 

 When disturbed, it does not, like many other animals, 

 struggle violently to escape, but ceases motion, or quiet- 

 ly withdraws itself within its shell. Even the heart, 

 which in higher animals, when agitated, pulsates with 

 increasing energy, in a snail, under similar excitement, 

 throbs with a slower motion." 



Two of the six true snails are known as the hairy 

 and long-toothed species, and these are not usually found 

 where the larger species occur. In this neighborhood 

 they seek nooks and crannies about roots of large trees, 

 where there is sure to be collected a considerable amount 

 of decayed wood, in the form of a coarse powder. Into 

 this, if it is at all damp, these little snails love to bur- 

 row. 



Besides the snails proper, there are snail-like shells 

 also to be found, but they will need more care in the 

 search, as their smaller size renders them Inconspicuous, 

 unless, as sometimes occurs, you happen upon a colony. 



One species is known as the arboreal snail, the other 

 as the cellar snail ; of the first. Prof. Morse says, " In 

 New England there is hardly an old log by the road- 

 side but that shelters them." Here, they are not so 



