IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 239 
he always goes out by night and never seems to see anything in 
his way. 
Some naturalists think the front pair of horns are organs of 
smell, for dull as he seems to be, he can smell his favorite plants. 
His way of breathing is very curious. He is said to draw the 
air into his lungs, just as any animal does it, but to get it out the 
poor little fellow has to draw himself clear back in his shell, and 
fairly squeeze himself up as tightly as possible, and thus push out 
the air. Fortunately — if this is true — he does not have to breathe 
so often as we do. 
The Snail in the picture, is the one commonly used in Paris 
on the sign boards, over restaurants and such places, where Snails 
are to be bought. His shell is heavy and marked with brown 
stripes, and his body is gray. 
The shell is a spiral — as you see — and usually turns from 
right to left, but now and then, by some accident, a Snail has a 
shell turning the other way, and he is as much sought after as a 
four leafed clover, not for his own value, but that his house may 
adorn somebody's cabinet — as a curiosity. 
All Summer long, the Snail eats and grows fat, but as Winter 
comes near, he begins to think of preparing a safe snug home for 
himself. He first finds a quiet place, under leaves or moss, and 
proceeds to build a roof over himself in this strange way, which a 
naturalist — Mr. Bell — had seen him do, and carefully described it. 
That soft part of the Snail on which he creeps along, is called the 
foot, and it is this solitary foot which builds the house. When Mr. 
Snail is ready to build, he pours out — in some way w r hich is not yet 
known — a quantity of very sticky fluid on the bottom of this foot; 
of course, the dead leaves, or dirt on which he lives, stick to the 
foot. He then turns it up sideways, and pours out a fresh lot of 
the fluid. This makes the dirt and stuff fall away from the foot, 
and he leaves it as the first brick in his wall. Repeating the opera- 
tion, he leaves the next brick on top of the first, and thus he goes 
on till he has actually made a complete roof over himself. 
But even this is not enough ; he must have a door to his shell 
house inside, so drawing himself in, he pours out a thick cream- 
like fluid, which fills up the opening, and in a short time grows 
hard and solid. So there he is, safe for the Winter, his hard door 
and his roof, which grows hard too, protecting him from all 
enemies. 
