SNAILS AND SLUGS 
181 
of seven and a half inches, to which previous 
mention has been made in reference to the 
large size of their eggs. Unlike the majority 
of snails which subsist upon fresh herbage, it 
appears that these giants, or some of them at 
all events, feed upon decaying vegetation. 
Mr. L. Harger, writing upon his observations 
of these snails, tells us that he could not 
remember ever having seen any feeding upon 
green or growing vegetation, but, on the other 
hand, when in Nyassaland, he observed them 
browsing upon that which was decayed, the 
leaves being sodden and having lost their 
green colour. It is also recorded that a speci¬ 
men kept in confinement refused to par¬ 
take of a vegetarian diet, but satisfied its 
appetite by eating another snail. In New 
Caledonia the French colonists eat these giant 
snails. 
Snails have for long been regarded by many 
country-folk as possessing medicinal properties, 
the creatures being prepared in various ways, 
and administered to a patient both internally 
and externally. 
Of the many recipes that have been handed 
down to us from the past, possibly the most 
curious and elaborate one was that favoured 
by the mother of General James Wolfe as a 
means of combating her son’s lack of robust- 
