Class VI. SHELLS. j 3s 



Inhabits the woods of the fouthern counties of 

 England. 



A naturalized fpecies, introduced, as is faid, 

 by Sir Kenelm Dighy \ whether for medical pur- 

 pofes, or as a food, is uncertain. Tradition fays, 

 that to cure his beloved wife of a decay was the 

 object. 



They are quite confined to our fouthern counties. 

 An attempt was made to bring them into 

 Northampton/aire *, but they would not live there. 



Thefe are ufed as a food in feveral parts of 

 Europe during Lent % and are preferved in an 

 Efc erg attire, or a large place boarded in, with 

 the floor covered half a foot deep with herbs, 

 in which the fnails neftie and fatten -{-. They were 

 alfo a favorite dim with the Romans, who had their 

 Cochlearia, a nurfery fimilar to the above. Fulvius 

 Hirpnus I was the flrft inventor of this luxury, a 

 little before the civil wars between Cefar and Pom- 

 pey. The fnails were fed with bran, and fodden 

 wine. If we could credit Varro ||, they grew fo 

 large, that the fhells of fome would hold ten 

 quarts! People need not admire the temperance of 

 the fupper of the younger "Pliny §, which confided 

 of only a lettuce a-piece, three snails, two eggs, 

 a barley cake, fweet wine, and fnow ; in cafe his 



* Morton, 41$. f Addifon's Travels, 272. 



% Pliny, lib. x. c. 56. j| DeRe Rujlica, lib. iii. c. 14. 



§ Epifh lib. i. Epijl. xv. 



K 4 fnails 



