Ad The BO'O K of 
tous from Byzantium, a town in Africa, where 
the art of dying purple formerly flourithed, it 
_ has obtained the name of the byzantine Blatta, 
However, this word Blatta is now made ufe 
of, to fignify the opercula of all kinds of fhell 
fifh without diftin@ion, though there are fo 
many and fo great differences in this fingle part, 
that an entire treatife might be wrote on it 
alone; and certainly fuch a treatife might be 
very ufeful, as well as entertaining. 
My intention, at prefent, is to treat of the 
Snail, known by the name of the vine or co- 
vered Snail, and defcribe its manner of living 
and propagating its fpecies, which 1 have made 
myfelf acquainted with by a very exact dif- 
fection: by means of this, I fhall, among other 
things, prove, that in this creature both the 
brain and fpinal marrow have their proper 
mufcles; and fhall likewife fhew in what 
manner this, in appearance, fo contemptible 
a creature is provided, by the greateft of all 
wonders, with eyes, that may not only be di-+ 
ftinély known for fuch, but even felt; and 
how it is at once both male and female in the 
fame body ; as alfo how it proceeds by genera- 
tion, from an egg, like other animals. Hence 
will appear the folly of that common opinion, 
which makes them proceed from flime or mud, 
a fancy which could only find place in the 
empty heads of thofe, who, inftead of ftudy- 
ing God’s wifdom, power, and goodnefs in his 
works, {pend their lives in reading books which 
mifreprefent them, or at beft, only reprefent 
them at fecond hand, ftealing from one another. 
IN A UN Be son 
Hence alfo it will appear, that this animal 
is to be ranked in the firft {pecies of my four 
natural orders of mutations, in which infects 
proceed immediately from an egg, without pat- 
fing through any intermediate ftate, as I fuffi- 
ciently have defcribed in the general hiftory of 
infects. 
I fhall here defcribe that kind of Snail, to 
which the inhabitants of Brabant and Flanders 
have given the Spanifh name of Caracol. It 
would be an endlefs task to treat particularly 
of every {pecies of Snail, Cockle, Periwinkle, 
and other creatures of this kind, that are found 
with or without fhells, though all belong to 
the fubject we have in hand; fince for this 
purpofe, it would be requifite to call all nature 
together, and fearch the feas and rivers, and 
every part of the earth. 
Neverthelefs, I fhall take notice, in the pro- 
per place, of what I have occafionally feen 
and obferved in other kinds of Snails; fuch as 
the houfe Snail, which has a little ftone for its 
fternum ; likewife the common Snail, which 
we meet with in path-ways, without any fhell 
like the firft. I fhall alfo fay fomething of the 
garden Snail, the frefh-water Snail, the Crab, 
or falt-water Snail, the mother of pearl, and 
fome other kinds of Snails, which I have had 
opportunities of feeing and examining. Some 
of thefe live upon trees, and there are others, 
but very fcarce, which have the fpiral line 
defcribed by thin fhells turned the contrary 
way. 
CHA“ Poh 
Of the fhell and foft part of the Snail in general, and particularly of the four 
horns which fpring from the upper part of its head, and of the eyes that 
appear in them, with a defcription of the confiruttion and motion of thofe 
parts. i 
EF ORE I begin to fpeak of the body, 
B or foft part of this creature, I fhall fay 
fomething of the fhell or hard part: this is pre- 
pofteroufly called its houfe, if we take that 
word in its proper and common fignification, 
feeing it is the very skin of the Snail, without 
which it would be as impoffible for it to live, 
as for a Lobfter, or a man who had been 
flayed, or a tortoife drawn out of its covering. 
This cruft therefore ought to be confidered as 
the bone of the Snail, in which all its mufcles are 
inferted, as the mufcles of quadrupedes are 
fixed in theirs. This is very obfervable in fea 
Mautcles, as I thall in its proper place accurately 
demonftrate. . : 
To pafs now to the foft part of the Snail’s 
body; it is to be obferved, that what appears 
of this part, when it moves forward with its 
thell, is about three inches and a half long, and 
. almoft two inches broad. In the fore part of 
eits head appear four horns, two greater, 
Tab. IV. fig. 1. aa, and two leffer 45, without 
any {pots at their extremities. Under thefe horns 
we may perceive its external lips, and its 
mouth c, and between the firft and the fecond 
horn is the perforation d, from which iffue 
the organs of generation, when they {well up 
for that purpofe; at other,times this hole is fo 
nicely clofed as not to be difcernible. Behind, 
towards the edge of the fhell, is a thick border 
or lip, which on every fide, both within and 
without, adheres firmly to the external edge, 
and internal furface of the fhell; but this part 
is like the skin, which in naked Snails hangs 
under the fore part of the body; and under 
which, as under a veil, they hide their head 
and horns when they are touched. In this lip 
or border there are on the right fide two 
openings, one of which / ferves for the crea- 
ture to difcharge its excrements, and the other g 
to breathe. In the body there.evidently appear 
thofe flat and broad fringes bbb, by the help 
of 
