PLATE CXXXI. 



tensis, and defines the specific character of lucorum to be *' testa 

 imperforata subrotuhda lasvi fasciata : apertura oblongo fusca." It 

 more generally inhabits the southern parts of Europe ; is larger, and 

 whiter tlian hortensis ; and the lip is brown. 



This is a most variable species in Its colours and markings, and it 

 may skill be doubted whether hortensis and lucorum be perfectly 

 distinct. They have certainly been confounded by almost every 

 Concholoffist, 



On the manners of a creature which is so geneially known, as 

 the Common Garden Snail, it is surely needless to enlarge : its mode 

 of courtship is, however, so curiously related, that it should not en- 

 tirely escape remark •, and were it not attested by writers of the first 

 authority, with the reader, we might be guilty of no small degree 

 of scepticism, as to believing it. Each of these animals, it seems, 

 .are furnished, at a certain season, with a number of little pointed 

 darts, which are contained withhi a ca\lty on the right side 

 of the neck. When the Snails approach within two or three 

 inches of each other, a scene of hostility is observed to com- 

 mence : each discharging ai its antagonist these darts, with con- 

 siderable force, at the other ; this battle continues till the reservoir 

 be exhausted of these offensive weapons, and then a perfect re- 

 conciliation takes place between them. The eggs are about the size 

 of peas, and perfectly round. 



Snails are used with success in some consumptive cases, and an 

 excellent cement, to fasten china, may be made of the saliva, or hu- 

 mours, mixed with quick lime and white of eggs, according to 



