NATURAL HISTORY. 



CLOSE ACQUAINTANCE WITH A SNAIL. 



MARGARET C. MARSH. 



On the beach one day I picked up a 

 snail shell about 134 inches around. It was 

 filled with a yellowish cement. That meant 

 Mr. Snail was at home, so I laid him on 

 a bed of wet sand, in a large clam shell, 

 and covered him with salt water. Soon I 

 saw a slight rising of the cement filling, 

 and thus his egress slowly began. I have 

 subsequently timed this emerging from the 

 shell. It has variously occupied \A to one 

 hour, the longer time caused, I think, by 

 fear, from having felt some strange touch 

 or vibration. On the contrary, when he 

 is entirely out of the shell and carrying 

 it on his back he will disappear into it in 

 a few seconds if placed in fresh water. 

 When retiring from choice, however, in 

 adjusting himself to his proper position 

 within the shell he is slightly more delib- 

 erate. "As slow as a snail" is not applica- 

 ble to the special movement. In fact, in 

 the enforced housing he has no chance to 

 divest himself of clinging sand, and my 

 specimens have frequently died soon after 

 from what I believe to be wounds caused 

 by the cutting and scraping of the sand. 



The cement-like filling is, in truth, a 

 trap door, which rises as if on hinges. It 

 looks like a thin sheet of tortoise shell or 

 gelatine, translucent not transparent, with 

 radiating hair lines from a spiral at one 

 end, like tracery on shell. As the trap 

 door rises that which is the back part 

 pushes out. Its first appearance is like a 

 row of tiny, blackened teeth set in a 

 mouth. Presently more is visible, and the 

 effort put forth is appreciable from the 

 darkening and swelling of the veins as the 

 snail backs out, pushing the trap door up 

 and over, hitching round to the right at 

 each shove, until he has turned the trap 

 door completely over and fitted it over 

 the tiny hole which can be seen on the 

 side of any snail shell. During this process 

 the fore part, or tongue-like proboscis, 

 has appeared, gradually pushing out be- 

 tween the back part and the shell's edge, 

 its finely etched veins swelling like little 

 streams of black fluid. By the time the 

 trap door is fitted into place the flesh col- 

 ored fore part is well out. Then is made 

 manifest the strength of its muscle, for 

 it tongues its way under and back until 

 it has purchase enough underneath to turn 

 the shell over, after which the shell rests 

 directly on top of the middle of the snail. 

 Before this latter turning over, however, 

 I have several times seen a snail lie on one 

 side, as if exhausted, for some time after 



466 



his egress; and from signs following I 

 have come to think that during this lethar- 

 gy Nature relieves herself. Afterward he 

 moves rapidly round and round his im- 

 provised ocean, I presume in quest of food 

 or friends. 



When moving, the shell looks as if it 

 were riding on an animated island, of 

 which the back part is round, flat and 

 black with veins, the front like a supple, 

 flesh colored tongue, which flattens out to 

 a scolloped point as long as he travels 

 unhindered, but which is supersensitive 

 when coming in contact with a dry surface 

 or an obstacle. In that case the end curls 

 up very like a human tongue, the under 

 side being a pink flesh tint, like that of a 

 baby's skin. 



Around the lower edge of the shell, rest- 

 ing on the snail, is a thin milk-and-water 

 white cuticle, apparently wrinkled up like 

 the scarf on an Indian cork helmet. The 

 moment I attempted to pick up the snail 

 between my thumb and forefinger this 

 cuticle stretched itself up and over 2/3 of 

 the shell and became so slimy I could not 

 hold the snail without hurting it. Usually, 

 however, that human looking eye on the 

 shell remained uncovered. The slime is 

 also emitted while the snail travels. This 

 quickly glutenates the water and mats the 

 sand. 



Our little mollusk likes to burrow under 

 the sand and lie dormant in its warmth; 

 always, though, sending to the surface his 

 little air shaft, which lies out like a tiny 

 calla lily on the water, with its opening 

 almost imperceptible or quite wide, as his 

 little Majesty's need for air may be. In 

 illustrations which I have seen the 2 flex- 

 ible little horns are placed at the extreme 

 front of what, for convenience, I call the 

 proboscis-like tongue, when extended. 

 That was not so in any of my specimens. 

 In all of them those delicate, transparent 

 horns, or feelers, rose from just where the 

 shell rests on the fore part of the snail. 

 They stand up, coming to a fine point 

 when fully extended, but frequently dou- 

 bling down to y 2 their length or fitting to- 

 gether in one tissue-like, grayish feeler, 

 edged with a hair line of black. These 

 feelers or horns seem to be used solely 

 for detecting anything approaching from 

 above. At that point also I have seen a 

 round, delicate neck thrust out, having 2 

 little blood red spots near its end, the end 

 being cut off square and showing a small, 

 round aperture. Its thrust out is like that 

 of a turtle's head and appears, I think, only 

 when live food is near. The under part of 



