“Oh! I don’t mind that,” cried Agnes; “I like running.”
“So I perceive,” said Mrs. Merton, smiling; “for you are like a little spaniel, you run two or three times over the same ground.”
Mrs. Merton had scarcely finished speaking when Agnes darted off again, like lightning, and soon came back, bringing with her some shells. “Now, mamma,” said she, “I think I have really found something that is rare: you always say the things I find are so common; but I am sure these snails are very different from any I ever saw before.”
“I am sorry to say, however, that they are found, in great abundance, in many places; and sometimes they appear so suddenly, and in such immense quantities, as to give rise to the idea that they must have fallen from the clouds. I do not know their popular name, but naturalists call them Helix virgata. They are remarkable for the thinness of their shells, and they are so small that two or three have been found adhering to a single blade of grass.”
“Ah! mamma,” cried Agnes, laughing, “one might almost fancy you saw me pick up these very shells; for I found them both sticking to one blade of grass, and I was quite delighted with their thin, delicate shells. I am only sorry they are so common.”
“To console you, I must add that they are only common in the South of England, in warm, open situations; and they are generally found in company with the other little shell you have in your hand. That is called Bulimus articulatus: and both kinds are found in such quantities on the downs in the South of England, that they are said to give the sheep that feed on the downs their peculiar flavour; as the sheep eat them with every blade of grass they take.”
Fig. 36.
a, b. Helix virgata. c, d. Bulimus articulatus.
“I remember the name of Bulimus,” said Agnes. “I think we saw some shells called by that name in the splendid collection of Mr. Cuming, that you told me laid eggs as large as a pigeon’s; and, indeed, we saw some of the eggs.”
“That was a species of Bulimus only found in the torrid zone; but the genus is a very extensive one, and, I believe, contains nearly a hundred and fifty species.”