HELIX. 
113 
£2.) who has given a most complete and interesting 
description of all the changes which the egg undergoes 
during its hatchings in the first plate of the third 
part of his work. 
From the time of the Romans^ who fattened them 
as an article of food^ they have been eaten by various 
European nations, dressed in various ways, Petro- 
nius Arbiter twice mentions them as served up at 
the feast of Trimalchio (Nero), first fried, and again 
grilled on a silver gridiron. 
At one period it seems that they were admitted at 
our own tables ; as Lister, in his Hist Aninu AngL 
p. 111., tells us the manner in which they were 
cooked in his time : They are boiled in spring- 
water, and when seasoned with oil, salt, and pepper, 
make a dainty dish.” Coquuntur ex aqua fluviatili, 
et adjectis oleo, sale et pipere, lautum ferculum pra 0 - 
parant.”) And Ben Jonson, in Every Man in his 
Humour,” mentions this dish as a delicacy : 
“ JSTeither have I 
Dressed snails or mushrooms curiously before him.” 
» 
These circumstances suppose their long foreknown 
establishment in this country, and, together with 
their general diffusion in certain soils, incline us to 
consider them as indigenous, and not introduced by 
Sir Kenelm Digby for medicinal purposes, nor, 
according to Da Costa, by Mr. Howard as an article 
of food. 
Dr. Turton observes : After the animal has been 
extracted, there remains at the bottom of the shell a 
glairy transparent matter, which affords one of the 
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