3 2 4 



SCIEA'CE-GOSSIP. 



•eggs among it, and some young dandelion plants to 

 -act as food for the baby snails on emerging. Of 

 course the lid was kept on the tin, with air-holes 

 punched in it. After four or five weeks' the little 

 snails hatched out at the end of July. They were 

 tiny white transparent things, but lively and hungry. 

 They settled down to dandelion diet at once. After 

 feeding, the greenstuff could plainly be seen in the 

 alimentary canal. In two months they had about 

 doubled in size, and were getting some pigment on 

 the shell, which was extremely delicate and brittle. 

 In the autumn they, too, made doors to their shells 

 :and went to sleep ; and the tin containing them was 

 buried in the ground. 



At the beginning of April 1897 they were dug up, 

 and I found that most of them were already awake 

 ■ and beginning to feed. They were now about § in. 

 in diameter, and grew during this summer to 

 about 1 in., but varied slightly both in size and 

 • colouring. 



On .March 17th, 189S, two of the young ones awoke 

 and appearei above ground ; this was rather an 

 •early date. They grew considerably during that 

 summer. In 1899 I had one original snail and a 

 dozen young ones. The latter grew as large as the 

 old one ; and now that they have hibernated I cannot 

 distinguish that one from the others, but I believe it 

 to be alive still. 



None of the young ones have laid eggs as far as I 

 know, and they are now three and a half years old ; 

 therefore the old one, which was full grown when I 

 had it in 1895, should lie now at least eight years old. 

 I have often asked, and have never been able to ob- 

 tain, the information as to how long is the lifetime of 

 a snail ; but some one once suggested two years. To 

 obtain an answer was one of the reasons why I took 

 to keeping snails. I weighed and measured these 

 snails after they had hibernated, the differences be- 

 tween them being small. The average is : — Weight, 

 I oz. ; size, length if in., width ig in.; height, 

 ij in. I expect they will grow larger next year. 



The Roman snails have not developed any tame- 

 ness in captivity, but continue to draw in their horns 

 and bodies at the approach of a human being. Snails 

 can, however, be interesting pets and become quite 

 tame. In May, 1S96, I obtained four specimens in 

 Barbados, W.I., of a very large handsome land snail, 

 Bulimus (Bonis) oblongus, and brought them back 

 to England in June. I could not bring their own 

 food for the voyage, but they fed on lettuces supplied 

 by the steward. They lived in a large biscuit tin, 

 and look exercise on deck in fine weather and on 

 the saloon tables when it was cold. When they 

 reached their home they were put under a large 

 bell-glass in a shady spot. They did not care 

 for cabbage, but would eat lettuce and preferred 

 dandelion leaves to anything else. They liked bur- 

 rowing in the moist earth. They have a handsome 

 long conical shell, self-coloured pink with a dark 

 border ; the body is a very dark slaty-black colour, 

 with a broad blunt head, fringed lips, and a large 



mouth-opening. The following measurements will 

 give an idea of the size of these fine molluscs. No. 1 : 

 length of shell, 3f in.; length of foot, 5.' in.; weight, 

 4 oz. ; No. 2 : shell, $| in. ; foot, 5 in. ; weight, 4J oz. 

 They looked very fine, crawling about in a dignified 

 manner, five inches of dark foot carrying the large 

 pink shell. 



Fearing the rigours of an English winter for tropi- 

 cal snails, I sent them to the kind care of the 

 Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, London, 

 where they spent the winter in a glass box in the 

 Insect House, eating lettuces. Three of the four 

 survived to return to me at the end of May in the 

 following year. They fed well, and crawled about 

 and burrowed as usual ; but after the middle of July 

 they faltered, and one after the other died in a few 

 weeks, first ceasing to feed and becoming almost 

 inactive. I could not discover the cause of death, 

 but they may have reached the limit of their existence. 

 They did not breed in England. I found it was quite 

 unnecessary to tether these snails, as they had a strong 

 homing instinct. I took them out daily from the 

 bell-glass, and put them some little distance away on 

 a piece of turf, where they liked crawling about and 

 feeding ; and after they had had enough of it they 

 always turned homewards, and went back to the 

 bell-glass. Here they used often to begin burrowing 

 in the soil just outside the glass, so as to get back 

 inside. I have found them in various stages — some 

 partly, and some quite, underground. They used to 

 meet the Roman snails occasionally, and even crawl 

 over each other, but they never showed any inclina- 

 tion for acquaintanceship. They were not at all 

 afraid of me, and did not shut up in their shells when 

 I took them up ; but they liked to sit on the back of 

 my hand. I think they enjoyed the warmth, and 

 they always came fully out of the shell ; then I would 

 give the snail a tender young dandelion leaf, poking 

 the apex of it to the mouth, which at once opened 

 and closed on it. I held the other end, and in a 

 marvellously short time the whole leaf would dis- 

 appear down to the stalk : while the chewing of the 

 tooth-ribbon made quite a loud rasping noise. The 

 mouth was so wide that a small leaf could enter flat. 

 I much regretted the loss of these interesting pets. 



Dadnor, Ross, Herefordshire : 

 January 1900. 



The Common Bittern.— This rare and interest- 

 ing bird has been recorded from several parts of both 

 England and Ireland during the past winter. A 

 specimen was taken in a ditch recently by a boy near 

 Rillington, in East Yorkshire. It has since been 

 kept alive and has much improved in health and 

 weight, being very thin when captured. Though 

 now so rare in Britain, this species bears the English 

 specific name of "common,'" which has been re- 

 tained to distinguish it from the little bittern. It is 

 many years since it was really abundant in our 

 marshlands. Its scientific name is Botaurus slellaris ; 

 and its local name was " butter-burnp," doubtless 

 from its peculiar booming note. Most years there are 

 visitors of this species from the Continent, probably 

 from Holland, where it still occurs commonly. 



