To grass, or leaf, or fruit, or wall, The snail sticks close, nor fears to fall, As if he grew there, house and all Together. Within that house secure he hides, When danger imminent betides Of storm, or other harm besides, Of weather. Give but his horns the slightest touch, His self-collecting power is such, He shrinks into his house with much Displeasure. Where’er he dwells, he dwells alone, Except himself has chattels none, Well satisfied to be his own Whole treasure. Thus hermit-like, his life he leads, Nor partner of his banquet needs, And if he meets one only feeds The faster. Who seeks him must be worse than blind, (He and his house are so combin’d,) If, finding it, he fails to find Its master. FRESH-WATER SHELLS. Many of the following group of Fresh-water Shells, are remarkable for elegance of form, and some for richness of colouring; hence, perhaps, the scientific name applied to the family in which they are mostly included—_Limnæidæ_, which, like _limn_—to paint, agrees with the French _enluminer_. These mollusks are found in rivers, streams, ditches, and moist marshy places. Like those which live wholly on land, they breathe through lungs, and therefore cannot exist without air; which accounts for their frequently coming to the surface, when under water. In brooks, as well as in stagnant pools, which abound with aquatic plants, they may be found in vast numbers, feeding upon the moist vegetation. [Illustration] The Common Limnea, (_L. stagnalis_,) is mostly an inhabitant of stagnant waters, where it is often seen floating with the shell reversed, as in a boat; this shell, like most of those of the Fresh-water Mollusks, is thin, and easily broken; the shape it will be seen, is peculiarly elegant, the spire being slender and pointed—very different from that of the Spreading Limnea, called by naturalists, _L. auricularia_, from _aurus_—the ear, to which the broad aperture, or opening of the shell, may be compared; this resembles the other species in its habits. The Horny Planorbis, in Latin _P. corneus_, from _cornu_—a horn. The shape, you will see, is flat, the whorls rolling upon each other like the folds of a bugle horn; this shape would be termed orbicular, from _orbis_—a sphere, or circular body. This is the largest European species of Fresh-water Shells so constructed; it is often found in deep clear ditches, and yields a beautiful purple dye, which, however, soon becomes dull, and changes; it cannot be fixed, and is therefore valueless. The mouth of this shell in fine specimens, is tinged with pale violet or lilac. [Illustration]