HELICID^. SNAIL. 
19 
starting from the table^ and giving full vent to his feel- 
ings of abhorrence.^^* 
In Paris^ snails are not considered in season till the 
first frosty about the end of October or beginning of 
November, when they are closed with their white epi- 
phragm. The Parisians eat about fifteen or twenty for 
breakfast, and they are also said to give a better flavour 
to wine. 
In Spain, also, all snails are eaten, unless they are 
too small to cook ; and they are called caracola^ and the 
men who gather and sell them are called caracoleros. 
However, they apply the term caracola, to all snail-like 
shells, only distingishing them thus, caracola del mar^ 
caracola del rio, caracola del huerta^ i. e. salt, freshwater, 
or garden caracoles. 
Eossmassler mentions having seen fourteen different 
species of Helicidce brought to the markets in Murcia 
and Valencia, and sold to be eaten. He adds that 
snails are not only food for the poor, for that many 
kinds are too costly. One species, called serranos, is 
sold for a penny of our English money each ; but they 
are not half that price bought by the dozen. They cook 
them by stewing them, shells and all, in a richly-spiced 
sauce, and then put the shell to the mouth, and draw 
out the animal by sipping or sucking it. 
Eossmassler states, for the benefit of those who may 
travel in Spain for scientific purposes, that to collect 
plants it is useless to visit the north of Spain before the 
middle of April, and the south before the end of March. 
E or insects and shells, the end of the summer, and above 
all the autumn, is the best time of the year. 
The snail-hunters, who daily supply the markets with 
* Curiosities of Food, p. 348. 
c 2 
