Love darts of Common Garden Snail

Amongst the numerous snails that live on the patio in my garden I have this year seen various pairs mating. On one occasion I observed a cluster of snails, several of which had been mating and on the brick wall behind, attached by mucus, were some white chalky love darts and some were also attached to their intentional target snails. A selection of the larger helicid snails have a dart sac that secretes limy harpoons that are detached and ejected prior to mating and thought to act as stimulants to the recipient snail. Snails are hermaphrodite having both functional male and female reproductive systems so darts are formed by all individuals of Cornu aspersum.

Not all helicid snails produce darts. In the Kentish Snail (Monacha cantiana) the dart sac is modified to be a long tentacle, the egersidium.

Photo: A cluster of Cornu aspersum showing love darts by June Chatfield