409 



retains during its torpid Rate ; but is thrown ofF on tlie 

 return of fummer, as foon as its locomotive faculty is 

 reftored. 



It may be expeQed in the hiftory of this animal, fo 

 long celebrated for acting the part of Cupid in its amours, 

 that foraething fiiould be faid upon a fubjecl fo fmgular 

 and extraordinary. 



So much, however, has been already w^ritten by diffe- 

 rent authors on the loves of Snails, which requires more 

 than common faith to credit ; that we muil beg to refer 

 our curious readers to the more recent accounts of the 

 aftions of Snails in love, given in the firft volume of the 

 NathiralijVs Mifcellany ; where the author very properly 

 prepares the reader for the belief of fuch wonders, by 

 faying, "I muft requefl my readers to fummon all their 

 philofophical faith to receive the furprifing particulars." 



That the hermaphroditical animal of the Helix afperfa, 

 as well as H. nemoralis, (or at lead fome of them,) pof- 

 fefs fmall teflaceous fpiculi at certain feafons, mull be 

 admitted ; but that they are mifTile darts', we have much 

 reafon to doubt, though it is natural to fuppofe the ani- 

 mals are furnifhed with them, for the purpofe of ftimu- 

 lating each other to love, becaufe it is only at that feafon 

 they are found to pofTefs them. If fucli are ever dif- 

 charged at each other, we have been extremely unfortu- 

 nate in our obfervations, for in no one inftance, could 



G g g we 



