Tet Pe TiO RY of EF NaSE-C T Ss. 
fents itfelf to view; at the loweft and inward 
part of which the tongue, Tab. V. fig. 111. a, 
and its mufcles take root. The tongue itfelf 
lies under the concave fold or winding of this 
cartilage, fig. 1. f; and is covered therewith 
when the Snail fwallows its food, juft as the 
epiglottis in us covers the top of the afpera 
arteria or wind-pipe, when we are eating, left 
any thing fhould flip into the wind-pipe. This 
texture of the tongue in the Snail approaches 
yet nearer to that of the tongue of the Serpent 
kind, which in the fame manner fhuts itfelf 
up in fuch a cavity. The tongue of the Snail 
is thus placed in a remarkable cavity, and its 
bafis or root lies in the cavity of the neck to- 
wards the belly, where it is obferved to {well 
like a {pheroid or oblong globe, fig. 111. 4; 
but a little on the infide of that part where 
the tongue appears, there is feen a very delicate 
mufcle, which draws the tongue together with 
the whole mouth, palate, jaws, and even the 
brain itfelf, inwardly into the belly, or at leaft 
into’ the meck.., See ‘Fab. +IV. fig. yi.'.and 
Bab, Vi wie Ties 708: 
On the tip of the tongue of the Snailc, 
there is a little horny bone, cut, as it were, 
into two or three very tender little teeth; with 
ij ona pean 
4g 
which, as with a hook, the Snail, when it is 
about to eat, firft lays hold of the {mall herb, 
and immediately after fuddenly fnatches and 
pulls the piece into its mouth; afterwards it 
nips them pretty faft with its teeth, fo that the 
noife it makes in biting and eating may be 
fometimes heard very diftin@ly. The Snail 
will fometimes {wallow a piece as big as an 
hemp-feed. Thefe parts of the mouth have 
three mufcles remarkably delicate, by the af- 
fiftance of which they are, at the creature’s 
pleafure, moved out of the cavity of the body. 
Thefe mufcles are fixed in the lower fide of 
thefe parts d, which are reprefented invertedly 
in this figure. As thefe creatures are moft 
immoderate devourers of vegetables, the keep- 
ers of vine-yards in the wine countries anxi-~ 
oufly gather them, when the vine puts forth its 
tender buds and firft leaves, and tread them 
under foot. ‘This I have feen tranfacted as a 
work of great confequence in France. We 
may therefore reckon Snails as a part of the 
hoft of God, wherewith he can chaftife bad 
people in the fame manner as he did the 
A&gyptians, with voracious infects of the fame 
nature. 
P. Ill. 
Of the tafie, /mell, and certain attions of the Snails 
y Fora confiderable time kept in my cham- 
ber, and provided with neceflary food, fe- 
veral Snails: thefe were inelofed in a box; 
placed in a wooden bowl, and covered with 
a mat full of holes, through which they could 
ftretch their necks; that I might be able to find 
out their manner of acting, and fometimes 
view them with a microfcope. I fed them 
with radifhes, lettuces, forrel, mallows, and 
other fucculent and dried vegetables, which, 
after keeping them a little in water, I gave 
them frefh every evening; for they naturally 
eat in the morning and evening, and they love 
» juicy and frefh herbs much better than old 
and withered ones. From this I obferved, that 
they had a nice appetite and tafte, as well as 
other creatures, for which purpofe they have 
alfo guftatory nerves. 
They have likewife a very quick fmell : this 
I obferved, when I moved a little frefh food 
towards them, for they immediately perceived 
it by the {cent, and crept out of their little 
fhells and came to it. Thus they were kept 
alive; but as they were in a dry place in my 
chamber, I at length obferved they did not 
thrive there for want of dew and rain; nay, 
that fometimes they loft their appetite, fince 
they would lie contracted within their thells, 
and were hidden entirely in their horny fkin. 
But I at length found out a method of giving 
them rain, as it were; which I did, that they 
might come into the light again, and feek 
fuch food asI laid before them. From this 
I obferved how little we are able to do by our 
own boafted powers; who, from our very mi- 
ferable infirmities, cannot, I will not fay, make, 
or even accurately examine, but fcarce can with 
our beft diligence give thefe animals due food 
or nourifhment. 
In order to give them water in the manner 
before mentioned, I made ufe of a brafs tube, 
to which was annexed, by a worm, a {mall 
globe of the fame fubftance, which was pierced 
with fine {mall holes, and had been originally 
made for the purpofe of watering fome plants, 
for feeding other infects, This machine forms 
a very beautiful kind of rain, that falls in little 
drops. As foon as the Snails feel this little 
rain, they immediately begin to creep: in the 
mean time, it is pleafant to fee with what ve- 
locity they can turn in their little horns, and 
hide them in the infide of their body, as foon 
as the little drops fall upon them; fo exquifite 
a fenfe have they in thefe tender parts, and in- 
deed the whole body. This creature is very 
timorous, and retires into its fhell, when it finds 
itfelf difturbed by the leaft thing that it is not 
ufed to. If it be ftruck or handled, it not 
only retires very haftily into its fhell, but it 
immediately covers its whole body witha glu- 
tinous moifture. 
Whether Snails have the fenfe of hearing, I 
could not difcover by experiment; indeed, I 
have not obferved any fign of it in them, 
though 
