UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 423 
The practice of eating snails had fallen into disuse in Europe 
when, in the seventeenth century, John Howard the philanthropist 
began to collect them with the view of re-introducing them as human 
food. He chose Helix Varronis, which was probably the species 
cultivated by the Romans ; it surpasses all those of Europe in size, 
and was found plentifully in the district of Bagnes, in the Valois. 
Howard, having procured the species from Bagnes, found them in- 
crease so rapidly that the crops were likely to be devoured by the 
swarms of molluscs thus brought together, and steps were at once 
taken to destroy them. In other parts of Europe the snail continues 
to be sought for as an article of luxury. They are consumed at 
Fig. 192.—Helix aspersa (Muller). 
Vienna in great numbers during Lent, supplies being brought from 
the Swiss canton of Appenzell. At Naples a soup made from Helix 
nemoratis is sold publicly to the strange population with which the 
streets of that city swarm, for the king’s pavement is their bed-chamber, 
dining-saloon, and work-room. In France snails are a valuable re- 
source to the poor in the southern departments. 
The flesh of all the species of snails is not alike in a culinary 
point of view. Amateurs class as first in quality Helix vermiulata, 
called at Montpellier the Little Hermit, because it buries itself so 
deeply in its shell. Aelix aspersa (Figs. 192, 193, 194) is thought to 
be more tender and delicate. In Provence a species is called 
tapada, that is, “closed,” from the cretaceous deposit with which it 
closes its shell. 
In the north of France and round Paris Helix pomatia is the 
