118 LAND AND FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. 
Upon a gooseberry-bush a snail I found 
(For always snails near sweetest fruit abound) : 
I seized the vermin, home I quickly sped, 
And on the hearth the milk-white embers spread. 
Slow crawl’d the snail; and, if I right can spell, 
In the soft ashes mark’d a curious L. 
Oh! may this wondrous omen lucky prove ! 
For L is found in Lubberkin and Love. 
This species appears to be very susceptible of | 
cold, retiring early to their winter-quarters in 
the cracks and holes of old walls and trees, and 
in other equally sheltered situations, where they 
are to be seen clustered together by their epi- 
phragms, as if the gregarious propensity were ~ 
induced for the purpose of communicating 
warmth to one another. 
Within that house secure he hides, 
When danger imminent betides, 
Of storm, or other harm besides 
Of weather.—Cowper. 
Helix aspersa is very universally distributed ; 
yet I find it to be a comparatively rare snail in 
the North of Ireland, and it is there only met with 
in the valleys, and in sheltered spots in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the sea, and always at low 
elevations. Fleming states that it occurs in Aber- 
deenshire, “ here and there in the maritime and 
lower inland tracts, especially in gardens, about 
