

HELIX. 233 



as Limncea stagnalis; as the growth of the Helix proceeds, a normal 

 globose variegated body-whorl is added to the artificial spire, and 

 becomes solidly attached to it. 



That snails have more intelligence than is usually ascribed to 

 them is shown by the following interesting paragraphs on the In- 

 stinct of orientation in Helix aspersa by F. d' A. FURTADO : 



"In a house which I inhabited at St. Michael's one of the Azores, 

 there was a veranda with a flight of steps leading to a little court 

 or garden. Above this was a second veranda supported by a stone 

 column, which rested on the wall of the lower veranda. At the 

 foot of the column had been set a flower-pot with a young banana 

 bearing two or three leaves. 



"One morning I noticed a snail (Helix aspersa) lodged between 

 the pot and the column, as if waiting for night to attack the plant. 

 A leaf had already been gnawed; and to stop further depredations 

 I threw the snail into the court. It was not much the worse for the 

 fall, as it chanced to light upon a small manure-heap. Next morn- 

 ing I was surprised to find the snail in precisely the same position 

 us before, between the pot and column. I knew it by its size and 

 color, as well as by a curious covering of spiders' webs which it 

 bore. It was evident that the snail possessed a remarkable sense 

 of direction, which enabled it after a violent shock, to make its 

 way back over a distance of at least six metres in a very short 

 time. In order to get at the bottom of the matter, I threw the snail 

 back to the heap and watched the result, which was as follow : 



"June 10, 1884 At about 9 A. M. the snail was resting, completely 

 retracted within its shell, on the rail of the stair-case, having travelled 

 nearly 4 metres. In the evening it resumed its march, but so 

 slowly that by 10 o'clock it had only reached the top of the rail, 

 where it stopped again, having traversed a metre in two hours. 

 Twenty minutes after midnight it began to travel along the balus- 

 trade of the veranda, taking at first a very undecided course, but as 

 soon as it reached the edge of the balustrade making straight for 

 the banana. Halfway it was turned aside by some fish-scales, which 

 no doubt indicated that the surface was contaminated; but it soon 

 regained its previous direction. Near the column it fell in with a 

 grooved washing-board, which it seemed to remember; for it reared 

 its head and tentacles towards it, while still two centimetres off. So 

 far two metres had been traversed in twenty minutes. The snail 

 now advanced resolutely from the board to the flower pot, as if over 



