HELICID^. SNAIL. 
21 
of France^ and is found in the Pyrenees^ and also in 
Corsica. 
Dr. Ebrard was informed by Dr. Eoi, the Inspec- 
tor of Colonization in Africa^ that in the market at Al- 
giers large heaps of snails are to be seen of the same 
species as those found in Central France, and are sold 
by the bushel, and by the hundred, as an article of food ; 
and a small species, about the size of a pea, is collected 
in Algeria in great numbers, and given to the ducks. 
Sir Gardner Wilkinson has seen baskets full of snails 
carried about for sale in the streets of Cairo ; and in 
‘ Physical Geography of the Holy Land ^ it is stated 
that they are occasionally eaten in Syria, though not 
often. In Scotland, fortunes are predicted by snails. 
In Honeys Every-day Book,^ we read that ^^No one 
will marry in May, but, on the first morning of that 
month, the maidens rise early to gather May- dew, which 
they throw over their shoulder in order to propitiate 
fate in alotting them a good husband. If they can suc- 
ceed, by the way, in catching a snail by the horns, and 
throwing it over their shoulder, it is an omen of good 
luck I and, if it is placed on a slate, then likewise it 
will describe by its turning the initials of their future 
husband^s name.^^* 
According to the ^ Archseologia Cambrensis,’ in the 
parish of St. CleaFs, Carmarthenshire, small portions 
of lands were formerly gambled away by means of snail- 
* In ‘Folklore of the Northern Counties of England,’ p. 86, it is said 
that if, on leaving your house, you see a black snail (slug ?), seize it 
boldly by one of its horns and throw it over your left shoulder ; you 
may then go on your way prosperously ; but if you fling it over the 
right shoulder, you will draw down ill luck. This practice is said to 
extend as far south as Lancashire. 
