placed upon the lawn, very frequently crawl towards me, and
would do so again and again when removed to a distance. As the weather
became cold they always hibernated, closing the mouth of the shell with
a thin, firm covering, or operculum, of chalk, which, mixed with their
slime, made a substance like plaster of Paris. Thus enclosed they would
lie as if dead until the warmth of the following spring made them push
the door open and come out, with excellent appetites, ready to eat
voraciously to make up for their long fast. These Roman snails were
quite five inches long when fully extended, and therefore were much
larger than our English species; the body was cream colour and the shell
a pale tint of buff varying somewhat in different specimens.

These creatures were kept in a fern case with glass top and sides, and
it was singular to observe the way in which they could suspend
themselves (as shown in the drawing) from the top of the box.

The substance which exists in the caterpillar of the silkworm moth, and
which can be drawn out into fine shreds of silk, is very similar to the
slime of the snail, only in the latter it is not filiform, but exudes as
a liquid and then hardens into a thin layer of silk which is strong
enough to support the weight of two of these snails, for, seeing them
one day thus suspended, I put them in the scales and ascertained that
the weight of the two amounted to 2-1/2 ounces.

This mucus forms the glistening, shiny track which the snail leaves
behind it, enabling it to glide easily and painlessly over rough
substances which would otherwise lacerate its soft body.

One hardly expected to find social feeling and affection in animals so
low down in the scale of nature, but I do not know what else could have
led my "Romans" to caress each other with their long horns by the hour
together and always keep close to one another, twisting and curling
their yielding bodies round each other in the most odd contortions. Our
English snails hibernate in whole colonies for the winter, which also
points to their affectionate and gregarious habits.

In lifting up some moss I once came upon some yellow, half-transparent
eggs about as large as pearl barley, and wishing to know what they would
prove to be I kept them in damp moss under a tumbler for about a
fortnight, when, to my dismay, I found a grand colony of yellow slugs!
and not a little was I teased about these interesting young people. I am
afraid I mus