THE SNAIL. 



101 



Generic character. — Body oblong, creeping, with a fleshy 

 kind of shield above, and a longitudinal flat disk beneath ; 

 aperture on the right side within the shield : feelers four, 

 situated above the mouth, with an eye at the tip of each of 

 the larger ones. Six species are known in Britain ; they com- 

 mit great depredations in fields and gardens, especially in 

 wet weather. 



The black slug has the body black, and furrowed with 

 deep wrinkles. The length is from two to five inches : it 

 crawls very slowly ; the feelers are always black ; back con- 

 vex, shield rough, with numerous dots ; abdomen wrinkled. 

 It is common in woods, meadows, fields, and gardens. 



The eyes of snails are in their horns, one at the end of each 

 horn, which they can retract at pleasure. They produce 

 young in the shape of eggs by the aperture of their neck. 

 The copulation lasts ten or twelve hours, and they bring forth 

 eggs at the end of eighteen days. 



Snails destroy fruits and vegetables in gardens, from which 

 lime and ashes, sprinkled on the ground where they most re- 

 sort, will drive them away. Their ravages in fields are best 

 prevented by rolling, as the bodies are tender, and easily killed 

 or hurt by being squeezed. The rollings may be repeated. 



