Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Second Duchess of Portland (1714-1785) is a well known figure in the history of shell collecting.

It is a well-known fact in malacology that the overwhelming majority of snail species is dextral. Their shells are coiled clockwise.

When I was young, I’ll have you know,

I was gleaming yellowish white,

But now I have reached adulthood,

I’m black as the dark-mooned night.

A survey to check the status of the Greater pellucid glass snail, Phenacolimax major, was publicised in the autumn of 2003 (Mollusc World 3 p.3) and has now run for 3 autumn/spring s

A strange ritual is recorded at the Godolphin estate in Cornwall, which, folklore has it, originated as the result of a race between two snails.