ORDER TRACHELIPODA. 49 



parts, could, after the head was removed, reproduce that 

 portion of the body, the scientific world became naturally 

 incredulous, and numerous experiments were made, and 

 thousands of Snails slaughtered, to ascertain the fact. 

 No one, however, for a length of time, could succeed ; — 

 it was then suspected that Spallanzani had only removed 

 a portion of the head. At length, it would appear, from 

 the experiments of M. G. Tarenue (an account of which 

 appeared in 1808), that these creatures could actually 

 reproduce a complete head. He gives as a reason of the 

 want of success of others, the little precaution taken to 

 provide the mutilated Snails with proper nourishment. 

 The new head, according to him, is perfect in about two 

 years after the old head has been removed. 



M. Tarenne says, that after having cut off the heads 

 of two hundred Snails, he threw them all into a moist 

 spot at the end of his garden, that they might obtain 

 the nourishment most fitted for them (how they could 

 eat without their heads he does not say) ; at the end of 

 the Summer he examined all the mutilated Snails he 

 could find, and he discovered that they all had a new- 

 head, about the size of a grain of cotFee ; they had four 

 snmll tentacula, a mouth, and lips; at the end of the 

 following Summer, the heads were perfectly reproduced, 

 and like the original head, with the exception of the 

 skin, which was more delicate. "After this experi- 

 ment," says a French author, " we cannot doubt that the 

 entire head of a Snail can be regenerated after it has 

 been removed ; however, 1 cannot disguise the fact, that 

 1 have a kind of repugnance at admitiing ihe matter to 

 be entirely be}ond dispute." 



If the advantages bestowed on man by Snails are not 

 numerous, the disadvantages, or rather inconveniences, 



