CHAPTER XI 
SNAILS AND SLUGS 
HE term “ snail ” is applied to a number 
A of different creatures belonging to a class 
known in zoological nomenclature as Gastropods 
—from gaster, “ belly,” and pous, “ foot,” and 
referring to the fact that the creatures creep 
along by expanding and contracting the under- 
part of their body or “foot.” 
From a popular point of view, however, the 
name is usually employed to describe only 
those members that possess a shell within which 
the animals retract their bodies, but as some of 
the gastropods are unprovided with such a 
form of protection—a well-known example being 
the black slug (Arion empiricorum )—it will be 
seen that the distinction is not altogether a 
correct one. 
In the early state of their existence, all snails 
are provided with a shell, but as they grow up 
this may disappear, or may become hidden 
beneath their flesh in the form of a small, 
flattened and elongated plate. 
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