SNAILS
Since May 24 is National Escargot Day, let’s take a look at another creepy crawly, the snail. • Snails aren’t insects, but rather are gastropods, a member of the Mollusks phylum along with slugs and conches. Their one-piece shell is coiled or spiraled. Gastropods rank second behind insects in the number of named species. Snails are triploblastic protostomes, which is a fancy way of saying they are made up of three parts – one foot, a head, and an unsegmented body. • The thousands of snail species include land snails, sea snails, and freshwater snails. The French delicacy escargot is simply cooked garden snails. (The name escargot is the French word for snail.) They are prepared by removing the snails from their shells and cooking in garlic butter, chicken stock, wine, and thyme or parsley. The snails are then placed back into their shells and served with the sauce.
by Samantha Weaver
© 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.
• Since a snail could never hope to escape a predator, if danger is nearby, snails can withdraw completely into their shells. A flat plate on the back of their foot called the operculum seals up the opening. • How can you tell a male snail from a female snail? The answer is…you can’t! A snail is actually both, as they are hermaphrodites, which means their reproductive organs enable them to both lay eggs like a female and fertilize them like a male.
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Weekly SUDOKU
• You might be surprised to learn that the U.S. state that is closest to Africa is Maine. • If you listen to the radio for one hour, you will • Those who purport to predict hear approximately 11,000 the future usually have pretty words spoken (or sung). poor track records. You might be surprised to learn, then, that • It was beloved British auin 1900, a journalist named thor (and, of course, creator of John Watkins successfully pre- Sherlock Holmes) Sir Arthur dicted a number of significant Conan Doyle who introduced developments that came to pass the sport of skiing to Switin the 20th century. In an arti- zerland, thereby transformcle in the Ladies' Home Jour- ing that snowy country into nal, Watkins wrote that within a premier tourist destination. the following 100 years, "Man • Those who decide to go into will see around the world. Per- goat farming should know sons and things of all kinds that the group of goats they're will be brought within focus raising could be called a of cameras connected electri- flock, a herd, a tribe or a trip. cally with screens at opposite * * * ends of circuits, thousands of miles at a span." Also, "Hot or Thought for the Day: "An ounce cold air will be turned on from of mother is worth a pound of spigots to regulate the tem- clergy." -- Spanish proverb
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• On a per-pound basis, your brain uses 10 times the calories as any other part of your body.
• That little garden snail has 14,000 teeth, all of which are on its tongue. It hibernates during the winter while living on its stored fat. Although most ground snails are passive little vegetarians, sea snails are predators with a sharp tongue resembling a harpoon that injects a deadly venom into their victims. The poison of certain cone snails can kill a human.
perature of a house"; "readycooked meals will be bought from establishments similar to our bakeries of today, .... equipped with electric stoves, coffee-grinders, egg-beaters, stirrers, meat-saws, dishwashers and the like"; and "wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world."
King CROSSWORD
• It was Spanish philosopher George Santayana who made the following observation: "Sanity is a madness put to good uses."