I will take up this poor slug whose mishap20 has set me preaching, and put him out of his misery21 at once, if misery it be. My hoe has cut through the soft flesh of the mantle22 and hit against the little embedded23 shell. Very few people know that a slug has a shell, but it has, though quite hidden from view; at least, in this yellow kind—for there are other sorts which have got rid of it altogether. I am not sure that I have wounded the poor thing very seriously; for the shell protects the heart and vital organs, and the hoe has glanced off on striking it, so that the mantle alone is injured, and that by no means irrecoverably. Snail24 flesh heals fast, and on the whole I shall be justified25, I think, in letting him go. But it is a very curious thing that this slug should have a shell at all! Of course it is by descent a snail, and, indeed, there are very few differences between the two races except in the presence or absence of a house. You may trace a curiously26 complete set of gradations between the perfect snail and the perfect slug in this respect; for all the intermediate forms still survive with only an almost imperceptible gap between each species and the next. Some kinds, like the common brown garden snail, have comparatively small bodies and big shells, so that they can retire comfortably within them when attacked; and if they only had a lid or door to their houses they could shut themselves up hermetically, as periwinkles and similar mollusks actually do. Other kinds, like the pretty golden amber-snails27 which frequent marshy28 places, have a body much too big for its house, so that they cannot possibly retire within their shells completely. Then come a number of intermediate species, each with progressively smaller and thinner shells, till at length we reach the testacella, which has only a sort of limpet-shaped shield on his tail, so that he is generally recognised as being the first of the slugs rather than the last of the snails. You will not find a testacella unless you particularly look for him, for he seldom comes above ground, being a most bloodthirsty subterraneous carnivore who follows the burrows29 of earthworms as savagely30 as a ferret tracks those of rabbits; but in all the southern and western counties you may light upon stray specimens31 if you search carefully in damp places under fallen leaves. Even in testacella, however, the small shell is still external. In this yellow slug here, on the contrary, it does not show itself at all, but is buried under the closely wrinkled skin of the glossy32 mantle. It has become a mere saucer, with no more symmetry or regularity33 than an oyster-shell. Among the various kinds of slugs, you may watch this relic34 or rudiment35 gradually dwindling36 further and further towards annihilation; till finally, in the great fat black slugs which appear so plentifully37 on the roads after summer showers, it is represented only by a few rough calcareous grains, scattered38 up and down through the mantle; and sometimes even these are wanting. The organs which used to secrete39 the shell in their remote ancestors have either ceased to work altogether or are reduced to performing a useless office by mere organic routine.
The reason why some mollusks have thus lost their shells is clear enough. Shells are of two kinds, calcareous and horny. Both of them require more or less lime or other mineral matters, though in varying proportions. Now, the snails which thrive best on the bare chalk downs behind my little combe belong to that pretty banded black-and-white sort which everybody must have noticed feeding in abundance on all chalk soils. Indeed, Sussex farmers will tell you that South Down mutton owes its excellence40 to these fat little mollusks, not to the scanty41 herbage of their thin pasture-lands. The pretty banded shells in question are almost wholly composed of lime, which the snails can, of course, obtain in any required quantity from the chalk. In most limestone42 districts you will similarly find that snails with calcareous shells predominate. But if you go into a granite43 or sandstone tract44 you will see that horny shells have it all their own way. Now, some snails with such houses took to living in very damp and marshy places, which they were naturally apt to do—as indeed the land-snails in a body are merely pond-snails which have taken to crawling up the leaves of marsh-plants, and have thus gradually acclimatised themselves to a terrestrial existence. We can trace a perfectly45 regular series from the most aquatic46 to the most land-loving species, just as I have tried to trace a regular series from the shell-bearing snails to the shell-less slugs. Well, when the earliest common ancestor of both these last-named races first took to living above water, he possessed47 a horny shell (like that of the amber-snail), which his progenitors48 used to manufacture from the mineral matters dissolved in their native streams. Some of the younger branches descended49 from this prim50?val land-snail took to living on very dry land, and when they reached chalky districts manufactured their shells, on an easy and improved principle, almost entirely51 out of lime. But others took to living in moist and boggy52 places, where mineral matter was rare, and where the soil consisted for the most part of decaying vegetable mould. Here they could get little or no lime, and so their shells grew smaller and smaller, in proportion as their habits became more decidedly terrestrial. But to the last, as long as any shell at all remained, it generally covered their hearts and other important organs; because it would there act as a special protection, even after it had ceased to be of any use for the defence of the animal's body as a whole. Exactly in the same way men specially53 protected their heads and breasts with helmets and cuirasses, before armour54 was used for the whole body, because these were the places where a wound would be most dangerous; and they continued to cover these vulnerable spots in the same manner even when the use of armour had been generally abandoned. My poor mutilated slug, who is just now crawling off contentedly55 enough towards the hedge, would have been cut in two outright56 by my hoe had it not been for that solid calcareous plate of his, which saved his life as surely as any coat of mail.
How does it come, though, that slugs and snails now live together in the self-same districts? Why, because they each live in their own way. Slugs belong by origin to very damp and marshy spots; but in the fierce competition of modern life they spread themselves over comparatively dry places, provided there is long grass to hide in, or stones under which to creep, or juicy herbs like lettuce57, among whose leaves are nice moist nooks wherein to lurk58 during the heat of the day. Moreover, some kinds of slugs are quite as well protected from birds (such as ducks) by their nauseous taste as snails are by their shells. Thus it happens that at present both races may be discovered in many hedges and thickets59 side by side. But the real home of each is quite different. The truest and most snail-like snails are found in greatest abundance upon high chalk-downs, heathy limestone hills, and other comparatively dry places; while the truest and most slug-like slugs are found in greatest abundance among low water-logged meadows, or under the damp fallen leaves of moist copses. The intermediate kinds inhabit the intermediate places. Yet to the last even the most thorough-going snails retain a final trace of their original water-haunting life, in their universal habit of seeking out the coolest and moistest spots of their respective habitats. The soft-fleshed mollusks are all by nature aquatic animals, and nothing can induce them wholly to forget the old tradition of their marine60 or fresh-water existence.
点击收听单词发音
1 maim | |
v.使残废,使不能工作,使伤残 | |
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2 hacking | |
n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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3 gratuitous | |
adj.无偿的,免费的;无缘无故的,不必要的 | |
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4 blot | |
vt.弄脏(用吸墨纸)吸干;n.污点,污渍 | |
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5 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
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6 analogous | |
adj.相似的;类似的 | |
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7 wasp | |
n.黄蜂,蚂蜂 | |
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8 severed | |
v.切断,断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 );断,裂 | |
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9 mantis | |
n.螳螂 | |
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10 dart | |
v.猛冲,投掷;n.飞镖,猛冲 | |
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11 peculiarities | |
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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12 questionable | |
adj.可疑的,有问题的 | |
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13 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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14 enthusiasts | |
n.热心人,热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
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15 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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16 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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17 beetles | |
n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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18 humane | |
adj.人道的,富有同情心的 | |
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19 vividly | |
adv.清楚地,鲜明地,生动地 | |
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20 mishap | |
n.不幸的事,不幸;灾祸 | |
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21 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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22 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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23 embedded | |
a.扎牢的 | |
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24 snail | |
n.蜗牛 | |
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25 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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26 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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27 snails | |
n.蜗牛;迟钝的人;蜗牛( snail的名词复数 ) | |
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28 marshy | |
adj.沼泽的 | |
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29 burrows | |
n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘(洞穴),挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 );翻寻 | |
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30 savagely | |
adv. 野蛮地,残酷地 | |
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31 specimens | |
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人 | |
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32 glossy | |
adj.平滑的;有光泽的 | |
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33 regularity | |
n.规律性,规则性;匀称,整齐 | |
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34 relic | |
n.神圣的遗物,遗迹,纪念物 | |
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35 rudiment | |
n.初步;初级;基本原理 | |
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36 dwindling | |
adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 ) | |
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37 plentifully | |
adv. 许多地,丰饶地 | |
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38 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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39 secrete | |
vt.分泌;隐匿,使隐秘 | |
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40 excellence | |
n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德 | |
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41 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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42 limestone | |
n.石灰石 | |
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43 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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44 tract | |
n.传单,小册子,大片(土地或森林) | |
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45 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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46 aquatic | |
adj.水生的,水栖的 | |
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47 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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48 progenitors | |
n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 );先驱;前辈;原本 | |
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49 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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50 prim | |
adj.拘泥形式的,一本正经的;n.循规蹈矩,整洁;adv.循规蹈矩地,整洁地 | |
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51 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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52 boggy | |
adj.沼泽多的 | |
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53 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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54 armour | |
(=armor)n.盔甲;装甲部队 | |
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55 contentedly | |
adv.心满意足地 | |
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56 outright | |
adv.坦率地;彻底地;立即;adj.无疑的;彻底的 | |
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57 lettuce | |
n.莴苣;生菜 | |
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58 lurk | |
n.潜伏,潜行;v.潜藏,潜伏,埋伏 | |
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59 thickets | |
n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 );丛状物 | |
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60 marine | |
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵 | |
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