FAMILY COLIMACEA. 



61 



2. Helix pomatia. Apple Helix. 

 Shell ; with, a half-covered umbilicus, globose, inflated, fawn-coloured, 

 encircled with two to three 

 faint reddish-brown bands ; spire 

 moderately exserted, whorls four 

 to four and a half, ventricosely 

 rounded, longitudinally rugosely 

 striated, spirally faintly im- 

 pressly bneated ; aperture lunar 

 oval, lip thinly dilated, broadly 

 reflected over the umbilicus. 



Helix pomatia, Linnaeus (1758), Si/st. 



Nat. 10th edit. p. 771. 

 Cochlea pomatia, Da Costa (1778), Test. 



Brit. p. 67, pi. iv. f. 14. 

 Helicogena pomatia, Bisso (1826), Hist. Nat. Europ. Merid. vol. iv. p. 60. 

 Pomatia antiquorum, Leach (1831), Turt. Moll. p. 81. 

 Pomatia pomatia, Beck (1837), hid. Moll. p. 43. 

 Ccenatoria pomatia, Held (1837), Isis, p. 911. 

 Helix (Helicogena) pomatia, Moquin-Tandon (1855), Hist. Moll. vol. ii. 



p. 179. pi. xiv. f. 1 to 9. 

 Hob. Central Europe, but local. Southern counties of England. 



The Apple, Edible, or Yine Snail, as it has been variously called, 

 belongs to a characteristic Continental type, of which H. lucorum, 

 Taurica, Gussoniana, ligata, lutescens, grisea, may be quoted as ex- 

 amples. It is said to have been introduced into England about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century, either as a foreign delicacy or as a 

 cure for consumption. The species, if not indigenous, has become 

 fully naturalized in our southern counties, but it is not generally 

 common. FewEngHshmen venture to partake of H. pomatia, though 

 Ben Jonson and Lister have extolled it as a dainty dish. Some of 

 our more epicurean neighbours on the Continent, however, still fol- 

 low the ancient Romans in keeping preserves of Apple Snails, and 

 fattening them in sties for the table. Few of the Parisian dealers in 

 comestibles, in the present day, are without a bowl of H. pomatia 

 among the pieces ole resistance, temptingly displayed in their 

 shop-windows ; and they may be as commonly seen in Germany, 

 Switzerland, and Italy. To its efficacy in cases of consumption 

 I am able to testify on personal knowledge. Mr. Barlow, of the firm 

 of John Dickinson and Co., paper-makers, informs me that he has 

 a brother who was in the last stage of consumption, when their 



