Show POINTS ON SNAILS 1 lieto meteoric orle but much tha tant t in in fe in their career the smithsonian institution lias has lilt hit upon something extraordinary in snails the creatures may be slows slow tint ant they hold the record over all other animals for prolonged vitality under tinder adverse conditions rays the providence journal stories of toads d dug out of rocks in w chich inch they had been imprisoned for ages are apocryphal but recent discovery has established the credit of this humble mollusk as no ko 1 in tile tha tenacity of life only the other day a specimen from f rom in an island off the coast of lower california in a drawer with part 0 of f the collection was found to lie bo alive it had no food or water for more than six years when placed in the box with moist earth it protruded its feet be began bean an to move about and seemed to be as well ns as ever some time ago a few snails snail of a different species gathered in mexico exico Nf reached rea elied the smithsonian institution and were placed in a box they remained undisturbed for two years and thred mouths months at the end of which time they were put into a jar of glass with soine homo chickweed and a small quantity of tepid water pretty soon they waked up and appeared quite active pond snails which are sometimes found alive in logs of mahogany from honduras possess equal endurance specimens carried from egypt to paris packed in sawdust have arrived uninjured other kinds have been experimented with by shutting them up in pill boxes and dry ba bags s for years but they have survived the limit of their vitality is yet to be ascertained land snails in cold climates bury themselves in the ground or under dead leaves in winter in tropical regions they become torpid during the hot season when about to start in on a period of sleep they seal up their shells with a close fitting door which sometimes is a shield of thin transparent mucus and in other cases an opaque mem rembrance brance as thick is as a visiting card behind this the animal constructs other walls which serve like so many partitions to protect it against prolonged cold or dryness it is believed that just as the seeds of plants are arc distributed by winds so likewise the eggs of snails are arc scattered abroad on the breezes thus disseminating their species they are very prolific animals some of the great land snails of the tropics which live on trees and weigh a pound apiece lay eggs that look strikingly like those of pigeons 0 being quite as large the e eggs s are arc deposited among decaying 0 ve vegetation elation the heat of decomposition hatching them |