By the Rev. J. E. Vize. 



95 



has been thought to have been in existence in England only since 

 the middle of the 16th century : others claim for it the rank of 

 being indigenous here : it certainly is interesting in its movements, 

 and although we do not with the Romans of old and the French of 

 the present day like snail soup, yet the whiteness of the flesh might 

 render it purer to the sight and taste than a lump of ox tail, at 

 least to those that like it. 



A few words about the Testacella haliotidea, and a beautiful com- 

 plication of teeth it has; if you hold its palate to the light you will 

 without auy magnifying power see some of its wonders ; the Testa- 

 cella itself is of rare occurrence, probably because it burrows in the 

 ground in winter, and is only above ground at the close of the year : 

 it is found at Trowbridge and Devizes, indeed the winter before 

 last some gardener here made a little pocket money by selling all 

 he found at six-pence a piece ; there need be little doubt that those 

 who would hunt for them would very easily secure numbers, 

 although they are considered scarce. 



A singular habit of this slug is recorded in Reeve's " Mollusks," 

 page 31 ; he obtained the information from M. Gassies, " When 

 a Testacella has discovered the prey on which it wishes to make a 

 repast, it moves stealthily to one side of the worm, with an in- 

 difference so complete that one would have supposed it had not ob- 

 served it or disdained it ; but suddenly it turns and whilst the 

 worm is twisting to the right and to the left, it lifts its head, with- 

 draws its tentacles, dilates enormously its mouth, and throws itself 

 upon its prey, enfixing it by a kind of suction. Contortions of the 

 worm are necessarily the result of the wounds from the palate 

 spines ; it wrestles, but in vain : retained by a multitude of barbs, 

 its movements only serve to engage it more and hasten its passage 

 into the stomach of its voracious enemy. 



To conclude the paper : it will be noticed that there has been an 

 omission of reference to geological specimens, or those which are now 

 semi-fossilized compared with the present shells, the subject would 

 have been very interesting but rather impracticable ; but do let me 

 ask some one to pursue the study of shells for Wilts ; the great 

 additions to health which a definite object gives when taking a 



