POOD FROBt THE CRUSTACEANS AND MOLLUSCA. 397 



served up whole, but are commonly stewed when served 

 up at the more sumptuous tables. 



MOLLUSCA. 



We pass now to the Mollusca, a large number of which 

 afford food for man and other animals. Upwards of 

 15,000 species have been described, but the number 

 which deserves notice here is but limited. 



Snails.— Ka^ny land and marine mollusca are eaten as 

 food. Among the land ones various snails are con- 

 sidered dainty morsels. The species principally eaten in 

 Europe is the apple snail (Helix pomatia, Lin.) but several 

 other kinds are also used, such as the garden snail (IT. 

 aspersa, Lin.), the wood snail (IT. nemoralis, Lin.), the 

 banded snail {H. pisana, Lin.), S. aperta, H. rhodostoma, 

 H. vermiculata and H. laetea. 



Besides the ancient Romans the noble Danes ate snails 

 in the eighteenth century. 



The taste for eating snails prevails in Austria, 

 France, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy, and has even ex- 

 tended to the United States. At Cape Coast and beyond 

 Ashantee, as well as on several parts of the West Coast, 

 the African Acliatina are much esteemed as food ; they 

 are, with the species of Bulimus, the largest of land 

 shells, many being eight inches long. Three or four 

 hundred of these dried molluscs strung together will sell 

 for a dollar. 



Not very attractive to the stranger is the favourite 

 dish of many a European nation — roasted or pickled 

 snails. The slimy, slippery form of these animals makes 

 them to most persons peculiarly repulsive, but their 

 extraordinary nutritive power and excellent taste has 

 long since served to defeat all prejudice. While the 

 Ashantees, and other African natives of low grade, 

 smoke them and eat them as daily food all the year 

 round, more civilised races employ them only as relish, 

 or for special occasions. 



The large land snails, Achatina and Bulimus of Africa 



