LAND SNAILS. 



22 J 



days. The still more eccentric Land Snail, Helix (Anastoma) globulus, from Brazil, after growing 

 like the ordinary Helix hortensis, or arbnstorurn, suddenly pulls up, and, twisting his mouth up 

 tight, produces the aperture on a plane with the spire. 



Many of the Land Snails, not furnished with opercula, fortify the entrance to their shell by 

 secreting a number of shelly plates, or teeth, around the aperture, so as to lead one to marvel 

 how the occupant of the shell ever managed to get in or out of his own house, and still more 

 how the eggs were excluded. 



their distribution, numbering more than 1,600 

 as trees grow, and south to Tierra del Fuego. 



species. Their 

 Their greatest 



HELIX POMATIA. 



Snails are world- wide in 

 northern limits extend as far 

 development is in the warm and 

 humid regions of the globe. They 

 attain in the Andes to an eleva- 

 tion of 1 1,000 feet, and to 8,000 

 feet in Ceylon. About fifty 

 species of Helix are found fossil 

 in the Tertiary rocks. The 

 Snails found on oceanic islands 

 are mostly peculiar. 



The Land Snails, such as th 

 Helix arbustorum and//, aspera >. 

 are the favourite food of the 

 Blackbird and Thrush, and a 

 smaller species of Helix, common 

 011 sand}' pastures, is said by 

 Patterson, to be eaten in vast 



numbers by the sheep when grazing, and to form a .very fattening kind of food. Another Land 

 Snail (Helix pomatia) was highly esteemed by the Romans, who fattened them as articles of food. 

 They are still found abundantly in many localities in the south of England, especially about the 

 sites of old Roman villas in Gloucestershire. They were at one time appreciated as an article 

 of food, and when boiled in spring water, and seasoned with oil, salt, and pepper, they make a dainty 

 dish. The French still eat them extensively, as do also the poorer classes in Spain and Italy ; 

 the Brazilians also eat Land Snails. Every one who visits Paris should taste a dish of Snails ; 

 they are most delicious. 



In summer and winter Land Snails cease to grow. The Snails of the first year, hatched in the 

 spring, usually attain half their growth in the autumn of the same year, and their maturity in the 

 following spring. There is always a stronger line of growth or conspicuous mark on banded and 

 Garden Snails, and in some a rib inside strengthens the rim of the half-grown shell. 



Genus ritrina, "Glass-shell." The shell is very thin, the whorls are few, the last is large, 

 with a wide aperture and a thin lip. "In its geographical distribution, the genus Vitrvna is found 

 in every part of the globe, the species being most numerous north of the equator. They live in 

 moist situations, among loose earth, stones, grass, and moss. They are very lively, crawling 

 constantly about, and, when touched, will sometimes jump several inches from the ground. The tail 

 of the animal is obliquely truncated, and the edge-teeth of the tongue are sharp-pointed." (Adams.) 



Genus Succiitea, "Amber Snail.'' The animal is large in proportion to its shell; its foot 

 is lu-oad, and the tentacles are short and thick ; its shell is like that of Limmca in shape, 

 having a small spiral, but a large aperture ; its lingual teeth are like Helix. Succinea putris has fifty 

 rows of teeth, sixty-five teeth in a row. These Snails inhabit damp places, but rarely enter the 

 water. There are sixty-eight living species in almost all parts of the world. 



Genus Bulimus. This is a turreted shell, with an 'ear- shaped aperture, usually simple and 

 smooth, but sometimes toothed ; the outer lip often thickened at the border. The animal is like 

 Helix. The great BuHnius ovatns, from South America, is six inches long ; it is eaten in Rio. It 

 deposits its eggs among dead leaves. They have a calcareous shell, and when hatched the young are 

 one inch in length. Six hundred and fifty species, of world-wide distribution,, are described. 



