176 



POPULAR CONCHOLOGY. 



umbilicus either covered or visible. Animal, moderately- 

 large in proportion to the shell ; head with four developed 

 tentacula ; mantle not reflected 

 over the shell ; tail lanceolate, 

 and never truncated ; foot 

 often ample ; tongue with the 

 edge teeth serrated.* — About 

 1400 species f; also fossil. 



Throughout the whole of 

 nature there are very few 

 classes of animated beings 

 more abundant, or more com- 

 pletely spread over the surface 

 of the earth, than this genus, h<mx. 

 the Helix, or common snail. 



It is found even in the most barren and desert places, 

 feeding upon the miserable specimens of vegetation which 

 may be found, and existing in great numbers in places 

 entirely deserted by the other ranks of creation. It is 

 equally adapted to the hottest and the coldest climates, 

 the most cultivated and most barren situations. The Helix 

 aspersa, or common garden snail, may be found at the 

 foot of Chimborazo, in the forests of Guiana and Brazil, 

 and almost all over the continents of Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa; even the great desert of Zahara is peopled by 

 them. On the shores of the Mediterranean they are a 

 valuable article of food, when boiled in the shell and eaten 

 with rice ; and it has been conjectured that they formed a 

 portion of the food of the Israelites both in the desert and 

 on their way to the Red Sea, the country in that neigh- 

 bourhood being described by travellers as having a herbage 

 under the trees completely covered with snails of a large 



* Forbes's British Moll. 



f Reeve's Iconica. 



