596' 
SNAIL. 
spicuous ; they successively occupy greater space in 
the trunk ; and, in two or three months at most, 
the injury is repaired in such a manner, that, un- 
less from the lighter colour, the new head is not to 
be distinguished from the old one. 
This remarkable property in the snail has since 
been confirmed by other persons, who have repeated 
the Professor’s experiments. Among the number 
that communicated their success to Spallanzani, was 
Sig. Gerardi, an Italian anatomist, in whose letter 
we find the following passage : 
“ Whenever the head is finished, the snail uses 
the renovated parts to repair the long abstinence 
it has been forced to undergo. During the be- 
ginning of October last year, I profited by a gentle 
shower to examine all the animals that issued from 
the shell. One of those people was with me who 
are naturally incredulous, and never less disposed 
to believe any thing than what borders on the 
marvellous. Not only was he obliged to acknow- 
ledge that the head was really reproduced, but he 
observed one endeavouring, with its prominent 
teeth, to gnaw a particle of bran, partly adhering 
to the shell, and in an inconvenient place. It was 
entertaining to see, in the snail’s exertions, the re- 
peated action and re-action of the open mouth, the 
soft lips, tongue, and teeth, turning the particle a 
thousand ways, until it effected separation, and 
made itself a savoury mouthful.” 
Several years ago an attempt was made in this 
country to introduce the Helix pomatia, a species of 
