WATURAL HISTORY. | 467 
danger, it feems to be expofed to falls from the brinks of précipicess 
or into the water, and then it would certainly be drowned. Howevers 
to remedy this, nature has provided it, very plentifully, with a thick 
clammy liquor or flime, which will fecure it from falls by its gluey qua- 
lity ; nor yet can it be hurt by rain or moilture, becaufe it has an oik 
that ftops up all the pores of the fin. It feems to know the great ufé 
this oil is of, for which reafon it takes care that the fun fhould not dry 
it up, and as for moift places thofe cannot doit any harm. 
Hence it is plain, there is nothing to hinder its going in queft of nots 
tifhment ; and when it has found any, it has two mouths armed with 
‘teeth, with which it fometimes does a great deal of damage to the very’ 
‘bef fruits, to the tender bids of plants, and even to leaves on which 
the prefervation of the fruit depends. : 
But what is moft wonderful in thefe animals, is, that they até aid 
hermaphrodites, and have at fame time the parts of generation of bot 
fexes, infomuch that they ufually fecundate each other, as was before 
obferved in treating of the naked fnails: they have a fort of courtthipy 
and when that happens, one of them lets fly a fort of a little arrow at 
the other, which has as it were four wings, or rather four edges : thig¢ 
arrow is entirely feparated from the {ail that darts it, and it eithet 
pricks the other, or falls to the ground, after it has performed its of* 
fice: the other {nail darts his at the other, but this mock fight is ims 
mediately followed with a perfec reconciliation : this dart confifls of # 
fubftance like horn, and they are always to be met with near them at 
the time -of their conjun&ion, which happens three times in the yéary 
and in the fpace of fix weeks, each of them after this, in eighteen days 
time, goes to depofite its eggs in the earth, and covers them with @ 
great deal of care. 
When the eggs are hatched, and the young Snails appeat, they have 
each of them a fhell, which increafes as their bodies increafe; for at 
firkt it is of a fize proportionable to its fmall inhabitant : this fhell is as 
it were the rudiments of that which is fo vifible afterwards to the naked 
eye ; but as the body of this infec cannot grow longer, except towards 
the opening, it is likewife that way that the fhell receives its. increafe $ 
this is done by the fubftance that is in the animal’s own body, and it 
is compofed of a fort of a glues and very fine ftony particles: thefe fab> 
ftances pafs through: a multitude of fmall canals, and at laft reach thé 
pores, which are very evident on the furface of the body. When the 
animal perceives that all the pores are fhut up under the fhell, it directs 
~ them towards the parts of the body which lye out of the thell, and aré 
quite naked: thefe fandy particles and glue, tranfpiring outwardly, then! 
grow thick, and adhere to, and dry om the edges of the fhell. It forms 
at firft a fimple fkin, to which it fixes another, and then a third; and 
when all thefe layers are united, they form a fubftance exaéily like the 
reft of the fhell. As this animal increafes, and its body is net fuffici< 
ently covered, it continues to tranfpire, and build again in the famé. 
© manner: this is certainly the method by whieh it fathions, builds; ané 
repairs its houfe; for if you take Snails and break their thells, with- 
out hurting their bodies, and then put them under glaffes; with earth 
and grafs, you will foon perceive that part of their body which is left 
quite naked, will foon be covered with a kind of froth cr fweat, whicir 
proceeds immediately from the pores: this fweat or froth is fooa puth- 
: , ed 
