HELICID^.— SNAIL. 
13 
being closed with their epipliragm) are kept in pots^ 
jars^ or baskets^ in a dry cold place. The vine- growers 
in the neighbourhood of Dijon keep them in a dry cellar^ 
or else dig a trench in the vine-slopes, and place at the 
bottom some leaves, and then tbeir snails, covering them 
with more leaves and a few spadefuls of earth. 
In Silesia, the snails are fed with marjoram, wild 
thyme, and aromatic plants, to give them a flavour. 
Ulm, in Wiirtemberg, is celebrated for its escargo- 
tiCTes/^ and, according to Marteni, more than 10 mil- 
lions of Helix pomatia are sent away to different gardens 
and escargotieres to fatten, and when ready for table 
are sent to various convents in Austria for consumption 
during Lent. 
Helicida are considered rather poor food, and therefore 
suitable as Lenten fare ; and this peculiarity has given 
rise to a singular custom near Bordeaux, mentioned by 
M. Fischer, who tells us that every year crowds of people 
direct their steps towards the township of Canderan, to 
end the Carnival with ^gaiety, and to have a foretaste 
of Lent by feasting on snails. The consumption is 
considerable, and a dish of 25 snails costs 1 franc 50 
centimes. 
A friend told me he had often seen the large apple- 
snail on the dinner table at Vienna; they were served 
up plain, boiled in their shells, or stuffed with forcemeat. 
At Naples, snails are generally kept in bran for a week 
or twm, or for two or three days, before they are con- 
sidered good for the table. They live on the bran, which 
is said to fatten them. 
When first the snails are gathered from the hedges, 
etc., it is a necessary precaution to starve them for a few 
days, and not to eat them at once, as they feed on poi- 
