422 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
youth is conscious of its weakness, and full of humility. It rarely 
trusts itself out of the obscure hole in which it was hatched ; when 
it does, it is only at night, dreading the desiccating air, and above 
all, the sun’s rays, even with the house it always carries with it for 
shelter. 
This calcareous and velluted house is spiral, which the animal has 
the inappreciable advantage of transporting without fatigue. It is 
light, and sometimes quite disproportionate to the body of the animal, 
which it covers only in that part which contains the viscera and 
respiratory organs. 
The form of the shell is generally much variegated. Some are 
flattened, others are orbicular or globose ; in some the spiral is very - 
pointed. The edges of the shell are sometimes simple, sharp, and 
pointed ; others, on the contrary, thick and inverted, presenting an 
edging of great solidity. The spire is generally rolled up from right 
to left. A Helix shell, the spiral of which follows the inverse direc- 
tion, that is, from left to right, is a rarity much sought after by 
amateurs. : 
The ancients held snails in special esteem for the table. The 
Romans had many species served up at their feasts, which they 
distinguished in categories according to the delicacy of their flesh. 
Pliny tells us that the best were imported from Sicily, from the 
Balearic Isles, and from the Isle of Capri, the last dwelling-place of 
the aged Tiberius; the largest came from Illyria. Ships proceeded 
to the Ligurian coast to gather them for the tables of the Roman 
patricians, The great consumption led to the establishment of parks 
(Cochlearia, Varro; Cochlearum vivarid, Pliny), in order to fatten 
the animals, as is now done with oysters. They were fed for this 
end upon various plants mixed with soup ; when it was desired to 
improve the flavour, a little wine and sometimes laurel leaves were 
added. These parks were formed in humid shady places surrounded 
by a fosse or a wall. Pliny has even transmitted to us the name of 
the inventor of the Coch/earia, a certain Fulvius Hispinus. Addison 
describes, with details, one of these establishments kept up by the 
Capuchins at Fribourg in Switzerland, in imitation of the ingenious 
Roman gourmet we have named. 
Among the Romans snails were served at the funeral repast. 
Certain heaps of their shells, which are found in the cemetery of 
Pompeii, are the remains of those funeral festivities with which the 
inhabitants of the buried city honoured the tombs of their friends 
and relations. 
