Spicula in Helix

Abstract

WHILST dissecting, a few days ago, a common garden snail (Helix aspersa), I came across two calcareous spicula, lying immediately under the “albummiparous gland,” which I cannot find mentioned in any of the text-books. I at once dissected three other snails of the same species, and in two I found no spicula, while in the third I found one lying in the same place as the two before-mentioned. Can any reader of NATURE tell me whether these are of the same nature as the diffused spicula of Doris, or if not, of what nature they are? They could not have been “spicula arnoris” (Huxley) of the dart-sac, as they were not contained in any sac at all, but were lying free in the above position.