American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-02-05
SNAILS.

WILLIE and Jamie Stewart were bright,
intelligent boys of eight and ten years.
They had lived altogether in the city, but
were now with their parents in the coun-
try, and naturally excited over everything
new they encountered. Early one spring
morning they came running into the house
with faces all aglow with excitement.
"Oh, fatheri" exclaimed Willie, 1--WE
have seen such a queer-loOking animal,
with a shell upon its back, slowly crawl
ing up the stone wall"
"And the part sticking out of the shell
looks just like Shiny worm" added
Jamie, "onlyit has something like horns
sticking out of its head"
/ touched it with stick it drew itself out
of sight. And though we rolled the shell
over and over, and shook it hard, we
could not see anything more of the ami
NAL"
1T was, no doubt, a snail, boys, and,
of course, it had no idea of being abused
with your stick; so it drew back into its
own house and stayed there out of danger
If you had let it alone when it drew back
you might possibly have seen it again
thrust forth its head"
why, father! was that shell actually
a part of the animal? Its own house to
live in and crawl about with?'
"To be sure, Master Will; and if you
and Jamie will lay aside your caps, and
sit down by my side, I'll tell you what
can of this singular little animal"
The boys, delighted with the prospect
of a good talk with their father upon a
natural object, were soon quietly seated
near him.
1.-THE SNAIL" resumed Mr.. Stewart, " is
furnished with the organs of life in a
Il, Inta 1apt
animal 1t has a tongue, brain, salival-
ducts, glands, nerves, stomach and in
testines, liver, heart and blood-vessels /;
besides, there is a purple bag that fur
nishes a red matter to different parts of
the body, together with strong muscles
that hold it to the shell, and which harden
like tendons at their insertion. These
things it has in common with other ami
mails; but it has one striking popularity
of its own, and that is, eyes on the points
of its largest horns"
"What! eyes at the end of those tall
things we saw sticking up on top of
its small head? What queer place for
them"
"But a very convenient one, Jamie, as
YOU will soon see. When the snail is in
motion, four horns are distinctly visi-
BILE. The two uppermost and largest
ones have the eyes affixed at the extreme
end of them in such way that they can
turn at pleasure to any object by reg
ular motion from the body And in case
of danger-such, for instance, as your
approach with stick-they can, by con-
traction, hide their eyes even more quick
" than they can draw back within their
shells.
"While the eyes above are thus on the
alert, two shorter horns in front serve as
sort of feelers to prevent the animal rum
ming foul of anything. Under these short
horns is the mouth. And though the
snail may appear too soft an animal to be
furnished with teeth, yet it has no less
than eight of them, with which it devours
leaves and other substances seemingly
harder than itself. With these same teeth
it sometimes bites off pieces of its own
she'll"
"What for ?" asked one of the boys.
"When they wish to make some rough
edge smooth. The snail, you must know,
is quite an ingenious tInkerer. 1t not only
possesses the power of retreating out Of
danger into its shell, but of mending it
when broken. Sometimes these animals
get crushed, seemingly to pieces, and, to
all appearance, are utterly destroyed; yet
still they set themselves to work, and in a
few days mend all their numerous breach
es The same substance by which the
shell was originally made goes to the re-
newal of the ruined habitatiOn-''
"How curious! To think these little
creatures are capable of mending their
own houses. Please tell us something
more about them ?''
1.-THE snail is quite vOraciOus, but it
chiefly subsists upon the leaves of plants
and trees, and it is very dainty in its
choice. At the approach of winter IL
buries itself in the earth or retires to some
hole, where it remains in torpid state
during the severity of the season. 1t is
sometimes seen alone, but more frequent
ly in company, during its retreat; several
usually being found together, apparently
deprived of life and sensation. For the
purpose of securing greater warmth and
safety from danger, this little animal, be-
fore winter sets in, forms Il cover or lid to
the mouth of its shell with its slime,
which stops itup entirely and protects the
animal from every outside danger"
Builds door to its own house to keep
out the cold and all intruders? Well done,
Mr.. Snail, you have gotsome sense, lfyOu
do creep along so slowly"
"To be sure, it has good deal of sense
or instinct, Jamie. For it not only closes
up the way into its own house, but some
times, when this cover is formed too
thick, the snail breaks Il little aIr-hole in
it-a window, as you might say to its
storm nOuSC-tO counterfeit aue t1oScutSS
which first proceeded from too great eau
ton. In this manner, sheltered in its
hole from the weather and every other
danger, it sleeps during the long winter
months.'
Without any food at all?" asked
Willie
For six or seven months, Will, it con-
tinues without food or motion, until the
genial sun of spring wakes it up and ex-
cites its activity"
mot much activity about these chaps"
laughingly replied Jamie.
Very true; for we often compare slow
ness to a snail However, it usually
comes forth in its own fashion on the first
warm days In April. Breaks open its
own door and sallies forth to seek nour-
ishment AT first it is not very particu
lar in the choice of its food almost any
vegetable that seems green is welcome;