The Land Snails. Helices 



snails are always dull-hued. One of the largest is a brindle- 

 banded snail, H. Falkneri, Rve., four inches in diameter, from 

 New Holland. 



Genus HELIX, Linn. 



Shell solid, globose or depressed; whorls about five, rounded 

 or keeled; surface ribbed or granulated, plain, with spiral bands, 

 usually five or fewer; lip expanded, reflexed or thickened. Man- 

 tle tough, granulose, grooved along back with side lappets, left 

 long, right short. Sole undivided; tail depressed; jaw and 

 radula well developed; reproductive system highly complex. 

 Found in temperate and tropical countries. 



In spite of the eliminations made by Mr. Pilsbry from Lin- 

 naeus' s overburdened genus Helix, it still includes so large and 

 so varied an assemblage of species that it is a hard matter to bound 

 it. It is the most highly organised genus of snails. Naturally 

 inhabiting wooded regions, yet these mollusks take kindly to 

 life in the open, in striking contrast to our native snails which 

 are largely destroyed with the laying waste of their forest homes. 



Helix, lover of the sunshine, well deserves its name. Its 

 cheerfulness under radical changes of climate and conditions 

 of soil and food are a source of amazement to scientists. It is 

 native to the mild regions around the Mediterranean Sea. North 

 Africans, the people of Asia Minor, and of Southern Europe, 

 all hold snails in high esteem as in article of diet, and have from 

 the earliest times. In scattering to the western hemisphere 

 these people have taken snails with them wherever they went; 

 and these molluscan colonies have succeeded — in South America 

 and North. The Roman soldiers probably took their favourite 

 Helix with them when Caesar invaded Britain in 56 b. c. So 

 certain authorities hold, for colonies of Helix still exist near the 

 sites of the old castra, built by Caesar's soldiers. 



The poorer classes in England consume snails in quantities 

 each year. It is a common sight on the crowded thoroughfares 

 to see a hungry person stop at a little charcoal pot and buy a 

 penny's worth of hot boiled or roasted snails. These he picks 

 out of their shells with a pin and eats them as he goes along. 

 This is the brown-lipped woods snail (//. ■w^wofj/f 5), which White 

 of Selbourne says is the favourite food of the song thrush. The 



257 



