176 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
found in Central Italy being of another kind. 
Then, again, Mr. G. Jeffreys, in a letter to the 
Field, points out the significant fact that among 
the remains from a Roman villa in North¬ 
amptonshire where quantities of whelk, oyster, 
cockle and mussel shells were found, not one of 
the edible snail was among them, notwithstand¬ 
ing the fact that numbers of the living creatures 
were to be found in abundance at a distance 
of a few miles from the site. The complete 
absence of shells has also been noted at many 
other places in England where the Romans 
were known to have encamped or built their 
cities. 
Edible snails are eaten extensively by the 
inhabitants of France, Spain and Italy, and 
are even appreciated by some people as an 
item of diet in this country; the creatures, for 
preference, being boiled in spring water, and 
afterwards seasoned with salt, pepper and oil, 
to taste. Mr. Cameron, in his book, The Wild 
Foods of Great Britain, states that in the South 
Cotswold country the demand for them is so 
great that their market price is invariably 
displayed outside the provision shops in the 
Gloucestershire town of Wotton-under-Edge; 
while another authority tells us that one hundred 
thousand edible snails are consumed every year 
in London alone, the creatures being largely 
